


The Davekat Fic Without a Title

by Waddles889



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Abusive Bro, Albino Dave, Alternate Universe - No Sburb Session, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, POV Alternating, POV Third Person Limited, Trolls on Earth, as you can see i ran out of ideas to tag this, dave has trauma, davekat - Freeform, look at that i found the superhero au tag, please leave comments i crave validation, slowburn, superhero au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-26
Updated: 2017-08-22
Packaged: 2018-08-27 02:15:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 21,885
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8384086
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Waddles889/pseuds/Waddles889
Summary: Dave may be gayer than originally planned.***Or: Dave is secretly a superhero and is struggling to hide both his identity and his feelings from Karkat. But nothing's stopping him from flirting with Karkat as a superhero, right?





	1. chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this instead of sleeping.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dave makes quesionable choices.

Dave may be gayer than originally planned.

 

He thinks this as he watches Karkat Vantas rant about alien romance or some shit from across the table. That kid is very into his alien romance, okay? Like, he may have a mental problem.

Karkat’s arms flail around to emphasize whatever point he’s trying to make. Dave is not paying attention whatsoever and is mostly trying to count the number of freckles Karkat has across his nose. This is admittedly hard to do when the person with freckles keeps moving around, screaming.

The bell rings and Dave waits for Karkat to notice the sound over his own voice before grabbing his backpack and heading to his locker.

Of course, it’s only three lockers down from Karkat’s. He can never escape this kid. 

Karkat is still muttering to himself. Dave grabs a random book to make it seem like he’s at his locker for an actual reason.

“Yo Karkat,” Dave calls.

Karkat slams his locker shut. “Fuck off, Strider.”

“Love you too, Karkles.”

Karkat flips him the bird.

Hot damn.

 

~~~

 

Dave thinks he might literally burst into flames if the temperature raises even slightly. 95 degrees and counting does not do good things to one’s un-sunscreened skin, especially if they are literally whiter than a sheet of paper. And totally did not plan ahead for Texan afternoon weather at all. 

He pushes open the door to his apartment warily, looking around for any puppet traps. When none are immediately spotted, he gets… suspicious. Either they’re better hidden than normal, or Lil Cal is going to appear out of fucking nowhere with a sword. But it’s all cool. Lil Cal is the shit.

Dave opens the fridge, hoping that there’s more than just a pile of unbelievably shitty swords and a 3 day old, half-eaten pizza, but no such luck. He glances behind him to make sure there aren’t any fucking puppet traps, and when he looks back at the fridge, he notices Lil Cal, chillin next to some shitty swords.

Hey lil dude.

Cal stares deeply into his soul.

Dave slowly closes the fridge.

A little disappointed that he didn’t find any apple juice, he retreats to his room. He dumps his backpack on the floor with a satisfying  _ thud _ and yanks out a yellow folder. Inside is his math homework, which he tosses onto his bed unceremoniously.

His phone buzzes in his pocket and he opens the pesterchum app, seeing that one of his friends had messaged him.

 

gardenGnostic [GG]  began pestering  turntechGodhead [TG]

 

GG: hey dave!

GG: just wanted to check up on you :D

GG: by the way, do you know if john changed his chumhandle? i tried pestering him and he didnt answer, the silly goose

\-- turntechGodhead joined the chat! --

TG: sup bro

TG: yeah john changed his handle to  ectoBiologist  i think

GG: cool thanks!

GG: so what did you do today? i have some time to kill

TG: i went to an actual school are you proud of me

GG: i thought bro homeschooled you!

TG: finally i convinced him that it was probably not good for him to teach a child

GG: yeah i guess so

TG: so actual school is fucking boring but its better than bro trying to convince me that world war 2 was made up by the chinese to cover up a rubber duck scandal

GG: wow

GG: so did you make any new friends?

TG: i met this one troll guy

TG: hes the only person i hang out with actually so i guess were friends

GG: tell me all about him!

TG: his name is karkat and hes obsessed with romance or whatever the fuck

TG: he doesnt appreciate my raps most of the time and thats just a shame

TG: also he watches romcoms in his spare time

TG: why i am i friends with someone who watches romcoms

GG: what does he look like? he sounds nice!

TG: bro he is the angriest person you have ever met in your life ever

TG: like holy shit he needs to take every chill pill in existence

TG: every single fucking one

TG: also he has the fluffiest sweaters

TG: wait why the fuck does he wear sweaters this is texas

TG: im having a crisis why doesnt he complain about the heat he complains about everything else

GG: well i think im just going to let you sort this out on your own…

GG: talk to you later! :D

 

gardenGnostic [GG]  ceased pestering  turntechGodhead [TG]

 

Dave glances at the time on his phone. 4:13. Good. He has at least an hour until he starts work. 

The front door of the apartment swings open and Dave freezes. When no sword is immediately pointed at him and no fucking puppets fly out of nowhere, he lets out a sigh of relief and quietly closes his bedroom door to avoid social interaction with his bro. With a lot of time to kill, Dave straps his headphones on and begins to make a lot of sick beats, but something feels off.

Unnerved, he sets his headphones on his turntables and opens his door just enough so he can observe the rest of the apartment. Nothing but those stupid fucking puppets and unbelievably shitty swords strewn all over the fucking place.

Bro is nowhere to be seen. That’s not uncommon, but he’d rather see him than not see him. Dave closes the door and checks the time again. 4:28. 32 minutes left. 

Finally, Dave just gets tired of waiting and decides to head out early. He slides open his closet door to reveal the same three shirts he wears all the time and a superhero costume. Okay no, it’s not a fucking costume. It’s a suit. Literally. 

Dave just kind of puts it on.  _ Man it would be so ironic if I had a superhero montage type thing,  _ he thinks as he ties on his mask. 

After sliding some shitty katanas into the sheaths on his back and snapping on his goggles, he opens his window and drops down onto the fire escape.

Dave looks around the city to see who he needs to punch in the face. Most of his nights start off like this. He’s just about to start doing a crime sweep of the city when he hears an alarm go off somewhere down the street.

Dave takes a breath, and then freezes time to make sure he makes it to the crime scene before the criminals get away.

He rushes down the street and skids to a halt right in front of the store where the alarm was coming from, letting time continue to run. A blue-blooded troll bursts through the entrance, knocking a short civilian to the ground. Dave waits for the troll to run past before his hand shoots out and grabs their hood. They let out a scream and drop the bag of stuff they were holding.

He punches them in the face, knocking them out cold. Dave lets the troll drop the ground and looks around for any other burglars. Sure enough, a human, holding a similar bag of stolen shit, stands in shock. She mouths the word,  _ “Clockwork.” _

Dave rolls his eyes punches her, too.

With both burglars knocked out and zip-tied together, he can focus on any civilians that got caught up in the robbery.  He first turns his attention to the troll that got shoved to the ground. Dave goes to help him up and wait holy shit it’s Karkat. He freezes as he feels his face heat up and forces himself to get into the mindset of a professional fucking hero and not a high school boy. Then he realizes that Karkat has no idea that he’s a superhero and he could totally flirt with him right now. 

Dave offers a hand to help him up but Karkat stands up on his own before looking up at him.

Karkat’s eyes widen.

“Holy fuck,” he whispers. But the kid has no volume control so it doesn’t really matter if he’s whispering or not. “You’re Clockwork.”

Dave grins, “Hell yes I am.”

Karkat looks like he’s having a mental crisis. Dave glances around before leading Karkat(who’s still freaking out not so silently), next to a building that’s not right next to a crime scene.

He begins to make a dramatic exit up the fire escape, but he slips and falls backwards, barely catching himself. He ends up hanging upside down in front of Karkat. This was not exactly what he planned to do.

Then, he gets an idea. A likely horrible idea, but an idea nonetheless.

“Hey…” Dave begins, a smirk creeping onto his face. “Do you know what this situation reminds me of? You know, superhero hanging upside down in front of a certain civilian…”

His smile grows wider and Karkat’s eyes widen.

“W-what do you mean?” Karkat stammers. 

“Come on, you know that one scene from Spiderman?”

Karkat’s face reddens. “Um…”

Dave rolls his eyes. “Just kiss me.”

The small troll takes a step back. “WHAT?!”

Dave’s smirk returns to his face as Karkat starts to hyperventilate. Man, being a superhero pays off in more ways than one.

“I don’t have all day here, the blood is kind of rushing to my head. This is not a very comfortable position,” he says.

Karkat’s face flushes even more. Is it even possible for someone’s face to be  _ that red.  _ Oh dear, Dave hopes his face doesn’t get that red around Karkat.

“Seriously, this is  _ very  _ uncomfortable. I haven’t been upside down for this long since middle school.” Dave looks dramatically off into the distance. “Middle school was a dark time.”

Karkat takes a shaky breath in. “If I kiss you, will you shut up?”

Dave winks. “You got it.”

Finally, Karkat grabs the sides of Dave’s head and presses his lips to his.

He breaks away, cheeks burning.

Dave winks at him before pulling himself back onto the fire escape and continuing with his dramatic exit.

  
  



	2. CHAPTER 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Karkat freaks out about the events of the past night.

Karkat can’t believe what he just did.  _ What the fuck what the fuck what the fuck  _ runs through his brain continuously. He watches the superhero vanish onto the top of the building before screaming into his fluffy sweater.

_ WHAT THE FUCK WHAT THE FUCK WHAT THE FUCK- _

He takes a deep breath in and leans against the wall, still in a daze. Karkat just reenacted the scene from a Spiderman movie with an actual superhero.

Which is to say, KARKAT VANTAS KISSED A FUCKING SUPERHERO.

He pulls out his phone to check the time, but he doesn’t really see it. All he thinks is,  _ late  _ somewhere in the internal screaming. Shakily, Karkat stands upright and begins to slowly walk up the stairs to his apartment building, through the lobby, and into the elevator.

When the doors open to the 4th floor, he quietly unlocks the 13th apartment, barely acknowledging Crabdad’s shrieking. He just faceplants into the recuperacoon and re evaluates his entire existence.

 

***

 

Of all terrible school things, the bus is probably the worst. A wadded ball of paper smacks Karkat in the face, proving his point. He doesn’t even bother to uncrumple it to see if there was any writing. Things are happening in his mind. And by things, he actually means eternal internal screaming. As usual. 

They pull up to the school and Karkat is the first one off the bus. And by bus, he means hellhole.

Karkat pushes open the school doors and heads to his locker. Of course, Dave fucking Strider awaits him with a smirk on his punchable face. Huh. He barely ever shows emotion.

“What the fuck are you smirking about?” Karkat grumbles as he opens his locker.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Dave responds, his grin growing wider.

Karkat grabs his textbooks and slams his locker shut. “Whatever.” He turns around, heading towards his first class as the first bell rings. The teacher smiles at him as he enters the classroom and slides into his chair, dropping his textbook on the desk with a thud. 

He suffers through the next four classes before he’s finally free for lunch period.

Dave meets him outside the math classroom and they walk down to the cafeteria in an unusual silence.

A fucking uncomfortable silence, that is. Karkat feels like he should say something but he’d probably stumble over his words like the fucking nerd he is.

But, instead of stumbling over his words, he stumbling over his untied shoelace, dropping all of his books on the floor.

“Oh, fuck me,” Karkat mutters as he picks up the fallen school supplies.

“Maybe later,” Dave whispers.

“What was that?”

Dave turns red. “Nothing.”

Karkat raises an eyebrow, but continues walking. Not wanting to eat in the cafeteria, he pushes open the door leading outside and heads up the hill to sit under a tree.

He pulls out a sandwich from his bag and begins to chew on it, watching as Dave sits next to him and leans against the tree. A slight breeze ruffles the leaves above them, and the tree casts a long shadow on the grass.

“Your eyes have red in them,” Dave says suddenly, breaking the silence.

Karkat freezes. “What?”

“Don’t troll eyes fill in with their blood color or something?”

Karkat shifts uncomfortably. “Yes.”

“Your eyes are doing that I guess,” Dave concludes, presumably looking somewhere else. It’s kind of hard to tell with those stupid shades.

This is bad. This is very, very bad. Sure, humans don’t really care about the hemospectrum, but as long as the Condesce is in power, Karkat could die if his blood color is found out. The process of one’s eyes filling out with their blood color usually takes about 3 days, so that should be enough time to buy colored contact lenses.

Karkat takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly, trying to calm himself down. 

Slightly less panicky now, he looks at Dave, who’s just kind of sitting there. He can’t tell where the fuck Dave is looking though.

As Dave turns his head, Karkat notices dark bags under his eyes. The kind you only get after not sleeping for three days straight.

“You look tired,” he observes.

“What do you mean?”

“Seriously, have you gotten any fucking sleep?” Karkat asks, watching for a reaction.

“Sure I have,” Dave replies, sounding like he definitely has not gotten any sleep.

“Hm.” Karkat goes back to eating his sandwich.

 

***

 

The store’s bell rings as Karkat pushes open the door. The cashier looks up from her phone, brushing coarse black hair behind her ear.

“Hi!” she says, leaning on her elbows.

Karkat doesn’t respond and just heads to dairy section.

“Ooooh! You’re the troll who was caught in the purrglary last night!” the cashier, who is wearing a blue cat hat, exclaims.

“Purrglary?” Karkat repeats, puzzled.

The troll behind the counter nods. “It’s a cat pun.”

Karkat sighs and opens the freezer to grab a jug of milk. He hears a gasp from the cashier.

“Did you get to talk to Clockwork?!” she asks.

Karkat’s face flushes bright red. “Uhhhhhh… You could.. you could say that…”

The troll girl squeals. “Ooooh, that’s so pawsome!! I didn’t get to talk to him, though. I’m purrobably nefur going to get to talk to a supurrhero.”

“I really just want to buy this milk and go the fuck home, if you don’t mind,” Karkat says, putting the jug down on the counter.

“Right, right,” the troll girl replies, scanning the milk and pulling up the total. “Do you purrfur this in a bag or with you?”

“Bag is fine I guess.” 

She slides the carton into a bag, along with a receipt and what looks to be another slip of paper.

“The name’s Nepeta, by the way. Have a nice night!” she says with a wink.

Karkat grabs the bag and exits the store. A gunshot goes off in the distance and he hurriedly starts to walk back to his apartment building. Across the street, someone in a red suit runs past, but then halts, and waves.

“Heyyyy,” the person calls. Karkat stops, and slowly turns his head. 

No fucking way.

It’s Clockwork.

The superhero makes finger guns at him and winks before continuing to run down the road. Karkat’s cheeks burn.

Once Karkat enters the apartment, he stores the milk in the fridge and pulls out the extra slip of paper the cashier put in his bag. It’s a phone number. Likely hers.

Crabdad screeches somewhere behind him and he hears a crash. “Crabdad what the fuck I’ve replaced that same fucking lamp three times already,” he says as he turns around. Sure enough, the lamp has been knocked over in Crabdad’s attempt to close the window.

Karkat places the lamp back on the end table and give Crabdad a pat on the head. He goes to close the window, but stops, listening. The sounds of the city drift into the apartment, along with a cool breeze. Karkat  leans on the windowsill to look up at the stars.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> have some nepeta
> 
> the next chapter will probably be out tomorrow  
> i have 7 prewritten chapters so far


	3. chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dave does not get enough sleep. Shenanigans occur.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this one is long  
> and yeah my pacing sucks i really need to work on that

Dave finishes up superhero work at nearly 5 am. He climbs into his bedroom through the window and promptly faceplants on the floor. Slowly, he rolls over and takes off his mask and changes out of his superhero suit. With a yawn, he collapses on his bed and drifts off to sleep.

His alarm goes off an hour later.

Groaning, Dave slaps the alarm onto the ground and rolls out of bed. He shambles to the bathroom to brush his teeth and wash his face before throwing on a red-sleeved shirt and some jeans.

When he enters the living room, he notices Bro’s bedroom door is open and the bed made neatly. Huh. He wouldn’t expect Bro of all people to have such a perfectly made bed.

Dave doesn’t even bother with breakfast. He yawns, making his eyes water as he slings his backpack over his shoulder and leaves the apartment. 

 

The first bell rings just as Dave arrives, and he half-jogs to his locker to grab the shit he left overnight. 

He tries to focus on the reading in class, he really does, but he keeps zoning out and dozing off for brief moments. In an effort to stay awake, he blinks quickly and takes a deep breath, but just yawns again.

 

“Mr. Strider, I suggest you pay attention.”

Dave splutters and looks up towards the front of the room. Mr. Tanowitz stands at the board, staring straight at him. 

“Shit,” Dave mutters. He’s in fourth period. How the fuck is he in fourth period? He doesn’t remember going through the first three.

The teacher continues with the lesson. Dave checks his internal clock. It’s definitely fourth period. What the fuck.

“Alright guys, have a nice weekend, and remember to turn in your homework by Wednesday next week,” Mr. Tanowitz calls after the students.

Dave sits across the lunch table from Karkat, who is reading a book, and takes a bite of an apple.

“ _ There _ you are. You weren’t at your locker this morning,” Karkat says.

“Yeah I was late,” Dave murmurs, slowly chewing the apple.

Karkat sets his book down. “Dave, you look fucking exhausted. You didn’t get any sleep, did you?”

Dave bites back a yawn. “I’m fine.”

Karkat raises an eyebrow, but continues to read his shitty romance novel anyway.

They sit in silence for a while, and Dave begins to doze off. Suddenly, Karkat slams the book down on the table, visibly irritated.

“What the fuck?” Dave yelps.

“I thought I could make it through this book, I thought I could handle this stupid as fuck love triangle, but then  _ another fucking love interest appeared.  _ In the  _ same fucking quadrant  _ as the already existing love triangle!” Karkat yells, fuming.

“Right, okay,” Dave responds, not really listening. The bell rings, and he picks up his bag to head to fifth period. Karkat follows him, still ranting.

The noise of the students fills Dave’s head. The world jolts and he stumbles.

“Dave?” Karkat’s voice cuts through the din, filled with concern. Dave tries to right himself, putting a hand gingerly to his temple.

His eyes roll back and he hears his name being yelled as he slumps to the floor.

 

***

 

Dave groggily opens his eyes, slapping a hand to his face when he realizes his shades aren’t there.

“Oh thank fuck, you’re alive,” comes a relieved voice from somewhere to his left. Slowly, Dave re-opens his eyes, blinking to adjust them to the bright light right above him. He looks over at the person next to him.

Karkat is leaning on the surface Dave is lying on. His hair is disheveled and there’s concern plastered all over his face. Even more of his eyes have filled in with red, but not the dark burgundy he claims to be his blood color. It’s brighter, a candy red, much like Dave’s own eyes.

“Morning, Karkat,” Dave says.

Karkat facepalms, groaning.

“But anyway, where the fuck am I?” Dave continues.

“In the front office. You passed out in the middle of the hallway and haven’t woken up for two and a half hours,” Karkat says, his voice a lot quieter, much softer than it usually is. 

A moment of silence. The door opens, revealing one of the teachers. Her short hair curls up around her ears and her tall, asymmetric horns almost touch the top of the doorframe. 

“Mr. Vantas, now that Dave is awake, you should return to your classes. You have missed quite a few of them. Dave will be fine,” she says, entering the room.

Karkat grumbles as he gets up and pulls on his backpack before heading down the hall.

The teacher stands next to the surface - probably a table? - Dave is laying on. He manages to sit up a bit.

“Dave, how much sleep would you say you have gotten in the last few days?”

Dave winces. “Like, maybe five hours?” he exaggerates.

“Over a course of three days?” the teacher asks, making direct eye contact.

“Er, yeah…”

She sighs and gestures to the corner of the room. “Your stuff is over there. I will contact your guardian- your brother, was it?- and send you home. You should rest up over the weekend, and try to get eight hours of sleep each night.” She walks over to a counter and picks up the phone.

Dave sits bolt upright. “No, don’t call Bro!”

The troll stops, and puts the phone back on the hook. Slowly, hands clasped together behind her back, she turns around and says, “Mr. Strider, is there a specific reason you do not wish for me to call your brother?” Her face is devoid of all expression.

Dave blushes. “N-no, he’s… uh, very… busy. With work. He can’t come pick me up,” he stammers.

The teacher raises an eyebrow, but doesn’t question him further. “Very well. Do you have any friends that can take you home? Perhaps Karkat Vantas? He seemed very worried about you,”

“Uh, maybe. If you don’t mind, Ms… uh,”

“Ms. Dolorosa,” she says.

“Right. If you don’t mind, Ms. Dolorosa, could you give me my glasses? It’s kind of bright in here,” Dave asks. He’s kind of intimidated by Ms. Dolorosa, okay?

The troll hands him his shades, which he puts on immediately. “But yeah, I could probably get Karkat to take me.”

Ms. Dolorosa nods. “I am also a counselor, by the way. If you need to talk about anything, like family troubles, friendship troubles,” she pauses, and looks at him knowingly, a twinkle in her eye, “possible crushes, just come find me.”

Dave’s face flushes red.

“Holler if you need anything,” the troll says, exiting the room.

Dave collapses back onto the table, staring up at the ceiling.

 

***

 

The door opens again, after what seems like five billion years, and Karkat stands in the doorway.

“Apparently I’m driving you home, because your guardian is incompetent or some shit.”

Dave sits up. “You have a car? I thought you took the bus.”

“I only take the bus sometimes, when I don’t feel like driving. Now get your shit and let’s go,” Karkat says impatiently.

Dave slides off the table, grabs his backpack, and follows the shouty troll out into the parking lot.

Karkat turns the key in the ignition and turns on to the road, driving in the direction of the city. “Alright, now where the fuck do you live, you bullshitting trumpetfuck?”

Dave gives directions and looks at Karkat again. His nubby horns are barely visible under the mane of dark, fluffy hair. His freckles are sprinkled across his nose and under his red eyes. Sunlight dances through the windows of the car, giving the troll a soft glow, like a halo.

The vehicle stops in front of Dave’s apartment building.

“There. Now you can get the fuck out of my car.”

Dave doesn’t respond. He just reluctantly opens the car door and steps out onto the pavement. Karkat waits for him to enter the building before driving away.

Dave takes a deep breath and heads up the stairs to his apartment.

 


	4. CHAPTER 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Karkat has to deal with a lot of inconvenient shit.

The colored contacts arrive the next day. Karkat is leaning on the bathroom counter, trying to put in the second one. He succeeds, blinks, and looks at his reflection in the mirror. Dark burgundy eyes stare back.

It’s a little strange to have contacts in, but if he doesn’t want to fucking die…

Crabdad screeches from the kitchen.

“Holy fuck, what is it now?!” Karkat yelps.

He runs to the kitchen to see a slip of paper clutched in Crabdad’s pincer. The lusus drops the paper at Karkat’s feet, pointing at it and screaming.

Confused, Karkat bends over to pick it up. He recognizes it as the cashier’s number. What was her name again? Nepeta?

He looks back up at Crabdad.

“You want me to call the number, don’t you.”

Crabdad screeches in response.

Sighing, Karkat pulls his phone out of his pocket and dials the number. It rings. And rings. And rings.

And goes to voicemail.

“Hi, I’m afuraid you’ve reached Nepeta Leijon’s voicemail! I apawligize about not taking your call right meow. I’m purrobably busy with work or purrhaps I’m out hunting with Pounce! Anyway, leave a message so I can get back to you!” the voicemail says, and then there’s a beep.

Karkat hangs up the phone.

“There, look? No one answered. Now you can stop screaming!” Karkat says, setting his phone on the counter.

As soon as he walks away, it buzzes. Loudly.

“HOLY FUCK!” he shrieks, flailing.

The phone continues buzzing as he scrambles to see who it is.

It’s the same fucking number he just called.

He can’t just not answer. He just called her. He has to answer the stupid fucking call.

“Hello?”

“Hi!” the other person says. “I see you just called me. Sorry about that,” she continues.

Karkat pushes Crabdad away, who was previously leaning against the phone, presumably trying to hear the other side of the conversation. “Yeah, you can go back to what you were doing, I was just trying to get my fucking lusus to stop screaming.”

There’s a gasp on the other end. “Oh!! You’re the troll furrom the purrglary! You got to talk to Clockwork!!”

Karkat bites his lip. “Um… yeah… talked to him… Oh hey there was just a knock on my door gotta go bye!”

He quickly hangs up.

_My awkwardness quota is filled for today, thank you very much,_ Karkat thinks, facepalming.

Unfortunately, there really was a knock at the door. He takes a deep breath and braces himself for whatever social interaction he has to take part in now, and opens it.

It’s just a package.

Karkat lets out a sigh of relief and grabs the box before vanishing back inside.

He stabs scissors into the tape and opens the box, pulling out the contents eagerly. Aww yeah.

Troll The Notebook.

Crabdad screams.

Karkat winces and puts the book down on the counter. He’ll have to read it later, when Crabdad is less… well,  _ crabby. _

With nothing else to do, he leaves the apartment and takes the elevator down to the lobby. He has all day, so why not take a walk?

Karkat rounds the corner onto the busier part of the city, glancing up at some of the larger buildings. The sun glares down on the cityscape.

There’s a loud crash from down the road, near a streetlight. People scream and Karkat stands on his toes to get a better view of what’s happening. He can just make out two cars, smoke rising from one of the hoods.

The crowd parts and a red-clothed figure runs through to the cars. Clockwork.

Karkat spins on his heel and begins to walk away very quickly.

He makes it about 3 yards.

“Hey!” comes a douchey voice from behind him. Slowly, Karkat turns around and looks up.

The superhero does not look very well.

His skin is pale, and his eyes are red and puffy, with dark bags under them. The idiot makes fingerguns at him and winks.

“What the fuck happened?” Karkat asks.

Clockwork looks confused, and glances back at the carwreck. “A car crash?”

The troll rolls his eyes. “No, why the fuck do you look so sick?”

The superhero looks very guilty. “I…. I’ve pulled a few all-nighters.”

Karkat groans, slapping a hand to his forehead. “Why is nobody getting any sleep today?” He looks back up at the hero’s crimson eyes. “Look, I’m just going to tell you the same thing. Go. The fuck. To Sleep.”

Clockwork looks shocked. “But I’m like, a superhero.”

People have stopped to look at the scene going down in front of them. It’s understandable, but fucking annoying.

“Yes, you’re a fucking superhero. But you look fucking exhausted and it’s an incredibly stupid idea to fight crime or whatever on so little sleep.”

With that, Karkat turns and heads back to his apartment building.

Maybe taking a walk was a bad idea.

 

***

 

Karkat’s halfway through his book when his phone buzzes. It’s Dave. Groaning, Karkat opens the chatwindow.

 

turntechGodhead [TG]  began pestering  carcinoGeneticist [CG]

 

TG: hey kitkat

TG: karkles

TG: kk

TG: carcat

TG: why you do this

\-- carcinoGeneticist joined the chat! --

CG: WHAT DO YOU WANT?

TG: oh hey youre alive

TG: im bored

CG: READ A BOOK.

TG: i dont have any

CG: WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DON’T HAVE ANY BOOKS?

TG: i mean i dont have any books

CG: WHAT SAD LIFE DO YOU LEAD?

TG: my bro is not the type of person who reads books

TG: at all

TG: like holy fuck all he has are puppets

TG: smuppets

CG: OKAY SHUT THE FUCK UP YOU PRETENTIOUS FUCKWAD.

CG: IF YOU’RE JUST GOING TO RAMBLE ABOUT WHATEVER THE FUCK, GO BUG ONE OF YOUR OTHER FRIENDS, LIKE THAT BLUE DOUCHE.

TG: what john

TG: no bruh john doesnt respond when i perform my sick beats

CG: WOW, I WONDER WHY.

TG: anyway what are you doing

CG: I’M READING, LEAVE ME THE FUCK ALONE.

TG: wait are you reading your shitty romance novels again

CG: DON’T YOU HAVE ANYTHING BETTER TO DO?

TG: no

CG: OKAY WHATEVER, I’M DONE WITH THIS CONVERSATION.

 

carcinoGeneticist [CG]  ceased trolling  turntechGodhead [TG]

 

TG: wow rude

 

turntechGodhead [TG]  ceased pestering  carcinoGeneticist [CG]

  
  


That was one of the weirder conversations Karkat has had with Dave.

He picks up his book, but his phone buzzes yet again.

“Holy fuck, what does he want now?” he murmurs to himself as he unlocks his phone and pulls up the chatwindow.

Dave seems very urgent.

 

turntechGodhead [TG]  began pestering  carcinoGeneticist [CG]

 

TG: karkat

TG: holy shit

TG: im having a mental crisis

TG: rose is not helping

TG: holy shit holy shit holy shit

TG: what the fuck do i do with this information

TG: help

\-- carcinoGeneticist has joined the chat! --

CG: WHAT THE FUCK IS IT NOW?

TG: i think i have a sibling


	5. chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dave deals with startling developments in his family tree.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> about half of this chapter is chatlogs

 

\-- minutes earlier --

 

Dave closes the chat window and answers Jade’s frantic messages.

 

gardenGnostic [GG]  began pestering  turntechGodhead [TG]

 

GG: oh my gosh!!

GG: dave you arent going to believe this!!

GG: aahh this is so exciting!!!!

\-- turntechGodhead joined the chat! --

TG: what

TG: did you find civilization

GG: no, even better!

TG: then what the fuck is it

GG: i found some of my grandpas old files!

TG: okay how is that exciting

GG: well, my grandpa was like this all knowing guy and stuff

GG: and i found his files!

GG: but the best part is when i got to the family trees

TG: oh god

GG: rose is your sister!!

TG: okay what the FUCK

GG: yeah! and john is my brother!

TG: what

TG: the

TG: fuck

TG: i cant tell if youre joking or not hang on

 

turntechGodhead [TG]  ceased pestering  gardenGnostic [GG]

 

turntechGodhead [TG]  began pestering  tentacleTherapist [TT]

 

TG: did jade talk to you too

TT: I assume you’re referring to the startling development of our relations?

TG: she said were siblings are we siblings

TT: I haven’t confirmed it with anyone yet, but I don’t see any reason for Jade to be lying.

TT: Usually, it’s John who does the pranking.

TG: he could have recruited her or something

TT: Sure, Dave. Let’s go with that.

 

tentacleTherapist [TT]  ceased pestering  turntechGodhead [TG]

 

turntechGodhead [TG]  began pestering  ectoBiologist [EB]

 

TG: this is a prank right

EB: what?

TG: you recruited jade to spout some shit about her grandpa so you could prank us all

EB: man, that would be a really good idea for a prank, but i had no idea about all this

EB: if it is a prank, kudos to jade for coming up with it

EB: but yeah i’m as confused as you and i’m not about to ask my dad if i’m related to some kid i know on the internet

TG: aah

 

turntechGodhead [TG]  ceased pestering  ectoBiologist [EB]

 

turntechGodhead [TG]  began pestering  carcinoGeneticist [CG]

(and here we have the part of the conversation we have already seen before)

CG: NICE TRY DAVE, BUT THAT WAS A SHITTY ATTEMPT AT A PRANK.

TG: im serious and having a mental crisis please help me

CG: WHATEVER.

 

carcinoGeneticist [CG]  ceased trolling  turntechGodhead [TG]

 

TG: bro

TG: why you do this

TG: its not everyday you find out youre related to someone across the fucking country

TG: hang on rose is pestering me

 

turntechGodhead [TG]  ceased pestering  carcinoGeneticist [CG]

 

tentacleTherapist [TT]  began pestering  turntechGodhead [TG]

 

TT: I have an update on our current situation.

TT: I have talked with my mother, and she provided some more information.

TT: She was a bit drunk, and very surprised that I found out about this. But she did confirm that you and I share genes, and are biological siblings. Well, ectobiological siblings.

TG: ectobiological

TG: like johns chumhandle

TT: Yes.

TG: what the fuck

TG: i am not talking to bro about this by the way

TG: dont even ask

TT: I had assumed as much.

TT: Well, this does change this a bit. Not much, really.

TG: what the fuck

TT: I’ll just let you deal with this on your own, brother dearest.

 

tentacleTherapist [TT]  ceased pestering  turntechGodhead [TG]

 

Dave sets his phone down next to him, takes a deep breath, and screams into a pillow.

He did  _ not  _ need this today.

After he screams his lungs out, he sits back up and walks toward his bedroom door.

After a moment of hesitation, he opens it and sees Bro in the living room, lounging on the couch. Bro doesn’t even turn around, but lifts up a hand in… greeting? Maybe.

“Um…” Dave says. Bro turns slightly. “Um… I don’t… uh…” Dave coughs. “I don’t happen to have any long lost siblings, do I?” 

There’s silence. Dave feels his face grow hot. It’s not comfortable.

“Why.” Bro finally responds, but it’s flat, uninterested.

Dave shifts uncomfortably. “Rose said her mom confirmed that.”

“Lalonde?”

Dave nods.

Bro turns back towards the TV. He never replies.

Biting his lip, Dave retreats to his room again. Apparently he has a sister.

This was not how he expected the day to play out.

 

***

 

The sounds of night traffic drift in through the window and Dave steps out onto the fire escape. After all the events of today, he needs to punch some douchebags in the face.

A scream comes from somewhere below him and he leans over the railing to see a troll being cornered by two tall assholes. The troll backs up against the back wall and one of the assholes grabs his sleeve.

Dave stops time and jumps down the fire escape, landing behind the muggers.

Time continues to flow and he taps one of the assailants on the shoulder.

She turns around and her eyes widen as Dave waves a greeting. “Hi,” he says, and punches her in the eye.

The girl stumbles backwards and her partner lets go of the troll, turning to face Dave. One kick to the face and he’s out cold.

The human girl from earlier recovers and manages to land a punch on Dave’s arm, but he elbows her in the stomach. She doubles over and he hits the back of her head, causing her to slump to the ground.

Dave flicks his hair out of his face and zip ties the two assholes together.

The troll guy he just saved lets out a squeal.

“Holy shit I just got saved by a superhero I have to tweet this immediately!!”

Dave rolls his eyes. “Whatever bruh. Want a selfie to go along with that?”

The troll’s green eyes light up. “HOLY JEGUS.”

“I’m taking that as a yes.”

Dave takes the troll’s phone and takes a selfie with him before handing it back.

“Enjoy your new followers because I’m just that fucking fabulous. Oh, and you might want to call the police so they can take these guys to jail, because I’m not actually a policeman and can’t do any of that shit.”

The troll nods eagerly and Dave runs off down the street.

The sound of a child’s wail cuts through the night, hurting Dave’s ears. Holy shit, children are loud.

He rounds the corner to see a five year old kid bawling his eyes out. Some grown ass man pulls the Hubba Bubba out of the kid’s hands and Dave raises an eyebrow.

Who the fuck raised that guy?

Dave walks right up to the grown ass man and holds out his hand. “Yeah, I just saw you take bubblegum from a child. What the fuck man.”

The guy stands there in shock, his mouth agape.

Dave taps his foot impatiently. Slowly, the man puts the Hubba Bubba in Dave’s palm and Dave returns it to the five year old.

The man walks away in shame. As he should.

“Help, my cat!”

No way.

Dave runs to the area where the shouting is coming from, and sure enough, an old woman stands under a tree, waving her arms and yelling about her cat. Who is stuck in a tree.

Dave never thought this day would come.

“Sup, I’ll get your cat,” he says. The old woman smiles.

There’s just a little problem.

Dave has never climbed a tree before in his entire life.

Taking a deep breath, he places his foot on a sturdy looking branch and grabs a knot on the trunk, hauling himself up a bit. He searches above him for a few seconds and finds another branch, pulling himself to the cat’s level.

It’s a fluffy white cat, who seems completely content in the tree and probably didn’t want to come down in the first place. Carefully, Dave scoops up the ball of fluff in one arm and lowers himself down to the first branch.

The lady takes her cat and thanks him before walking off somewhere.

The branch breaks.

Dave plummets and sprawls on the ground, looking up at the tree.

You know what? Fuck trees. What’s their deal, anyway?

  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "im definitely not asking bro about it dont even ask" *immediately goes and asks bro about it*


	6. CHAPTER 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clockwork's constant red-flirting comes back around at Karkat in an unexpected way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> kinda short and weird

The next evening, Karkat was taking a walk when someone fell into pace next to him

Karkat groaned. Not again.

“Hello Clockwork,” he says with an exasperated sigh. Clockwork makes finger guns and winks. “What do you want now?”

The superhero shrugs, looking down at Karkat. Clockwork looks better, healthier. Maybe not happier, though. Karkat wonders why.

“You should tell me your name so I can call you things other than, ‘the cute shouty troll’ or, ‘that guy that I like’.”

Karkat pinches the bridge of his nose and sighs. “Karkat Vantas,” he says, and tries to pick up his pace, but the superhero is too damn tall. 

“Whatcha doin, Karkat Vantas?”

“Trying to avoid social interaction, thank you very much.”

Clockwork nods, and suddenly he stops, whipping around. Karkat raises an eyebrow.

“Uh, gotta go. See ya later,” Clockwork says, distracted. He runs off and Karkat continues walking.

A car drives past and the laughter of some teenagers drifts across the street. The sun shines down through the gaps between the buildings, warming Karkat’s back. Some birds fly overhead and a dog barks somewhere in the distance.

He begins to walk past a short, narrow alley between two buildings when someone says, “Hey you.”

Like a fucking idiot, Karkat stops.

Someone grabs his wrist and yanks him into the alley, nearly pulling his arm out of its socket. The attacker pushes him against the wall and Karkat’s head slams back on the bricks.

Karkat’s ears ring and he blinks to readjust his vision. The lighting casts weird shadows across his attacker’s face, making it hard to tell if he is a troll or a human.

“You’re the one that Clockwork keeps red-flirting with, aren’t you?” the man says with a snarl.

Karkat raises an eyebrow.  _ That’s  _ what this whole thing is about? Seriously?

“Um, yeah, I guess?” Karkat scans the area behind the man, spotting two more people looking pretty bored. “What does this have to do with that whole mess anyways?”

The man looks almost offended. “Have you never read a superhero comic? The superhero always has a nemesis! And the nemesis kidnaps the love interest. That’s just how this works.”

Karkat bursts out laughing. “Oh my word,  _ you  _ are trying to be  _ Clockwork’s _ nemesis? That’s pure comedy gold right there.”

The man makes a sound of disbelief, looking back at his colleagues. One makes a punching motion. The man shrugs, and swings a punch at Karkat, who ducks.

There’s a loud smack paired with a less audible crack as the thug’s fist hits the brick wall where Karkat’s face used to be.

The shorter troll stands upright quickly, elbowing the guy aside. One of his colleagues, a girl with a pixie cut, swings her leg up in a high kick, but her aim is way off, and she ends up hitting the first guy. As she freaks out and apologizes to him, the second colleague attacks Karkat from behind, one arm around his neck.

Karkat grabs the arm around his neck and bends over, flipping his attacker over his head and onto their back.

He saunters over to the sidewalk before stopping and turning around. “I hope you guys didn’t give him the ransom note ahead of time, because that would be embarrassing.”

Karkat continues on his route back towards his apartment, though with a few more bruises than before, which he hides under his sweater.

“Karkat!” he hears not two minutes later. “Karkat, are you okay?!”

Karkat lets out an exasperated sigh and slowly turns around. “What the  _ fuck  _ could it  _ possibly be now?!” _

Clockwork stops in his tracks, a confused expression plastered across his stupid fucking face. “I- what?”

Karkat rubs his forehead as if he had a headache, which he probably does. He takes a deep breath, and begins to complain. “Whenever you see me, you  _ always talk to me. WHY.” _

Clockwork cuts him off. “This time I had a legitimate reason! I got a note that said you were in trouble-”

“BWAHAHAHA, OH MY FUCKING WORD. They  _ ACTUALLY SENT THE NOTE EARLY.  _ I swear, those moronic fucksponges are the stupidest fucking people I have ever met.” Karkat interrupts, taking wheezing gasps between laughs. “I didn’t think it was possible to be  _ that bad  _ at attacking someone, holy shit!”

Clockwork steps back a bit. “Sooo… You’re okay? Nothing bad happened?”

“I’m fine, you pungent grubfisting clusterfuck of shit. I can handle myself. I am a fucking adult.” Karkat says, waving him off. “In 5 months,” he adds under his breath.

Without another comment, he pushes open the door to his apartment building and disappears inside.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> poorly written fight scene waddup


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dave strifes with bro and Karkat freaks out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry it took so long to update! i procrastinate too much whoops

As soon as Dave climbs through his window, a sword nearly impales him, cutting off a chunk of his hair as he rolls out of the way.

A note is stuck to the sword, which Dave rips off and reads, despite knowing what it is.

_bro._

_roof. now._

_bring cal._

For some reason, a feeling of dread fills Dave’s stomach and he doesn’t move for a solid minute. The note slips from his pale fingers and drifts to the ground.

Finally, he makes himself move, changes out of his suit and into something suitable to strife in. He grabs his least shitty katana and ‘Lil Cal. who gets more unsettling every day.

Dave climbs the stairs to the roof and kicks open the door for dramatic effect. Bro is nowhere to be seen. Dave’s stomach drops and his hands begin to sweat, making it difficult to keep a tight grip on his sword. He tosses Cal onto the rooftop, where it bounces a bit before skittering to a halt, its limbs splayed out like it's making a snow angel.

Like Texas even gets snow.

A dark shape shoots across the rooftop in the blink of an eye. Dave looks around wildly for Bro. He knows he’s here.

Out of nowhere, Dave is punched in the left eye, knocking off his shades and causing him to stagger out onto the open rooftop as his hand instinctively covers his eye. The bright light blinds him for a few heart pounding moments.

In his peripheral vision, he sees Bro raise his unbreakable katana and Dave whirls to face him, bringing his sword up in the nick of time to block the blade swinging at his face. With all his strength, he deflects the blow off to the side, giving him just enough time to roll sideways.

Dave slashes at Bro’s feet as he jumps into a standing position, but Bro just jumps, swinging another punch at Dave’s left eye.

Bro vanishes in a blur and Dave staggers, one hand on his left eye, the other gripping his sword so tightly that his knuckles are turning white. He scans the area, looking for any sign of his brother.

This time, Bro attacks from behind, kicking Dave to the ground. He stabs at Dave’s head as he rolls to get away.

As quickly as he can, Dave jumps to his feet and slashes at Bro, who deflects each swing perfectly with not much effort at all. The sun gleams off of his anime shades and he tilts his hat at Dave as he does a backflip in the direction of Cal.

Dave lets out a groan of frustration and runs at Bro, striking his sword. The clang of metal on metal rings through the air and both opponents try to get the upperhand. Bro pushes against Dave’s sword and begins to back him up towards the edge of the roof. Just before Dave’s foot slips off the edge, he sidesteps, pushing Bro’s sword away from his face and retreats to the center of the roof.

Bro seems to be getting a bit bored of the strife, and sprints at Dave, swinging his sword once.

Dave feels it go in slow motion, and maybe it is. The blade rips through the fabric of his shirt, cutting through the soft flesh of Dave’s arm. There’s a short moment when the sword swishes through the air, just to hit the edge of Dave’s katana. But instead of stopping when it hits the metal, it slices right through, cutting it clean in half.

The end of Dave’s sword clatters on the pavement.

Bro and Cal vanish in a blur.

Time speeds up again.

Only now does the pain sink in. It’s so sudden that Dave drops the rest of the sword entirely with a gasp. The pain radiates with such intensity that he can’t think straight. Blood begins to pour out of the cut and he seizes his arm, trying to put pressure on it as he stumbles down the stairs.

He walks as quickly as he can through his apartment, collapsing on the tiled floor of the bathroom. Slightly panicked, Dave rummages through the cabinets until he finds the red bag labeled with Sharpie in sloppy handwriting: _FIRST AID KIT_

Dave pulls off his shirt and wipes the blood from his arm, inspecting the wound as he tries to calm himself down. He sanitizes the needle and applies disinfectant, biting his lip as the cut begins to sting. Carefully, or as carefully as one can, he stitches the wound shut and ties off the string.

Dave lets out a sigh of relief and wraps a bit of gauze around it, throwing the first aid kit back under the sink. He checks the time to see that it’s around 10.

_Karkat’ll kill me if I don’t get enough sleep._

A few minutes later, after informing Rose what had just taken place, Dave crawled into his bed and stared at the ceiling until he fell asleep.

 

***

 

Dave leans against his locker, looking at Karkat, who’s retrieving a textbook or two from his. Karkat slams his locker shut and turns to face Dave, looking up at his face.

The textbooks falls out of his hands and hits the tiled floor with a _thud._

“Dave, what the everloving _FUCK_ happened?!”

Dave raises an eyebrow. “Huh?”

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN, ‘huh?’ YOU LOOK LIKE YOU GOT RUN OVER BY A TRUCK!” Karkat yells.

Finally, Dave figures out what was up. “Ooooh. You mean like, the black eye.”

Karkat lets out an inhuman noise. “OF COURSE I MEAN THE BLACK EYE, WHAT THE FUCK ELSE WOULD I BE TALKING ABOUT?!” He takes a deep breath, like he’s doing some sort of breathing exercise. His eyes shift to Dave’s right upper arm. “WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO?!”

“I was strifing with my bro, man, chill.”

“YOU WANT ME TO JUST IGNORE THE FACT THAT YOUR _BROTHER_ GAVE YOU A BLACK EYE AND DID _SOMETHING_ TO YOUR ARM THAT REQUIRED A BANDAGE!?!” Karkat shouts.

Dave shifts a bit uncomfortably, his face growing hot. “Come on, man, chill! I’ve had worse!” he says in an attempt to calm Karkat down.

That was the wrong thing to say.

“ _WHAT!?!”_

“No, no, no, it’s fine, I’m fine!” Dave tries to recover.

Karkat screams. “YOU ARE _NOT_ FINE! YOU ARE THE EXACT OPPOSITE OF FINE!”

The tardy bell rings, but Karkat keeps yelling. “DAVE, TELL ME WHAT HAPPENED.”

Dave shrugs, face flushing. “We were strifing on the roof and he punched me in the face, and then he cut my arm on accident while he tried to cut my sword in half. Pretty tame compared to our other strifes.”

People have long since gone to class, and now they were almost 15 minutes late for first period. Dave’s surprised that no teachers have noticed Karkat’s frantic shrieking. “Come on, we have to go to class.” Dave starts to walk towards his classroom.

“WHY ARE YOU SUDDENLY SO INTERESTED IN SCHOOL?”

“I’ll see you at lunch, bro!”

Dave enters the classroom and the teacher gives him the death stare over her reading glasses.

“Why are you fifteen minutes late, Mr. Strider?”

Dave gestures to his arm and face. “I had to deal with this shi- I mean stuff.”

“Do you have a pass?” Dave shakes his head. The teacher marks him down.

He sits at his usual desk, zoning out as the teacher drones on about whatever the fuck. His head begins to throb and Dave traces patterns on his arm with his finger, counting down the minutes to passing period. The clock ticks audibly, and Dave swears he sees it move backwards. Not impossible, with his set of powers.

The slight throbbing in his head turns into a pounding headache, hammering against his skull. The bell rings, and instead of going to second period, Dave goes to the front office. He requests to see Ms. Dolorosa.

The troll appears not three minutes later. “Hello, Mr. Strider, how are you today? Anything exciting happen last night?” she asks, leading him into her office.

Dave hesitates, looking at the wall.

“You can tell me anything, Dave.”

He lets out a breath and describes what happened, toning it down quite a bit. Ms. Dolorosa watches him, nodding occasionally, devoid of all expression. As Dave explains, he scans the room, looking everywhere but the teacher’s face.

There’s a counter with a sink and a box of bandaids near the back wall, with a vase of flowers on the edge. Two extra chairs sit by the door, and a cushiony table-like surface is pushed up under a light. Dave remembers waking up there after passing out in the hallway last week.

“Karkat wants me to tell him about it, but I don’t want him to freak out, y’know? He spends too much time yelling about things and sh- I mean stuff.”

Ms. Dolorosa nods again, shifting in her chair. She attempts to make eye contact as she speaks. “You don’t need to tell your friend if you don’t want to. That’s perfectly fine. But it seems to me like he was just worried about your well-being. That’s the sign of a good friend. You might want to consider talking about it with him.”

“Hm.” Dave checks his internal clock. He’s missed 26 minutes and 18 seconds of second period already. “Can I have a late pass?”

Ms. Dolorosa smiles, and hands him a pink slip of paper.

 

***

 

The moment Karkat spots Dave, he makes a beeline for him. He stops and glares at him accusingly.

“Tell me what’s been going on with your brother, Dave, or so help me-” the angry troll begins.

Dave holds up his hands in surrender. “Fine, fine, but not in here. Let’s go outside.”

Karkat looks surprised, but he follows Dave outside and up to the tree.

Dave sits against the tree with a huff. Karkat sits next to him, looking at him expectantly. “Well?”

“Well, we strife on the roof-”

“No, _everything._ Even the small things.”

Dave rolls his eyes and starts over. “Bro leaves his stupid fucking puppets everywhere and also his swords. Usually we only have 3 day old pizza or leftover takeout or something but I don’t know where the fuck to look for it. I don’t see Bro that often, come to think of it, but when I do, we’re strifing on the roof.”

Karkat’s eyes widen. “He doesn’t do anything about your injuries? That he gives you?”

Dave shrugs, pushing his shades back up his nose. He doesn’t want to talk about this much longer.

“Dave, that qualifies as domestic abuse,” the troll says softly.

“Wait, _what?”_

Karkat doesn’t talk any more, but the look on his face says it all. Dave bites his lip, staring at the ground, stunned. The wind ruffles his hair and sends chills down his spine, but he doesn’t react. Karkat places his hand carefully on his shoulder. They sit like this for a while, not a word passing between them. They’re only broken apart by the ringing of the bell.

Dave goes through the rest of his classes in a slight daze, not quite paying attention to anything.

The final bell releases the students from their prison, and Dave walks his usual route home. Much to his surprise, however, Karkat joins him.

“I’m going to walk you home,” he says matter-of-factly. Dave just nods.

They reach the apartment complex and Karkat forces him to take the elevator.

Dave pushes open the door to his apartment and scans the area carefully. Bro sits on the sofa, playing a videogame or something. Slowly, he steps inside. Bro raises his hand as Dave passes him and tries to retreat to his room, but Karkat grabs his arm and stops him.

Bro glances back at them and raises an eyebrow, but returns to his game. “‘Lil Cal’s out. Don’t know where he is, don’t really care.”

Karkat is growing angry, and Dave flashes him a look.

“Also, try not to bleed everywhere next time we strife,” Bro says off-handedly.

Karkat fumes.

“You’re a terrible guardian!” he blurts out. Dave winces, but Bro doesn’t even pause his game.

“‘Aight.”

“What kind of person in their right mind raises a child like this? I mean, seriously, this is an awful living situation!” Karkat continues, getting louder.

Bro sets his controller down. “If you’re just here to insult my parenting skills, you can see yourself out.”

Dave tugs at his ear anxiously and glances around the room, not saying a word. The troll at his side is becoming more animated the angrier he gets, shouting. Bro rises to his feet, crossing his arms over his chest. His expression remains flat, voice calm.

“I still fail to see the problem here,” he says, uninterested, after minutes of Karkat’s yelling.

“The problem,” Karkat retorts, “is that I was raised better than Dave, and I was raised by a _literal_ **_crab_ **.”

Dave raises his eyebrows. Well.

Bro doesn’t respond. He just tilts his head towards the door and returns to his videogame.

Fuming, Karkat exits the apartment,

waving at Dave as he leaves.

“Alright, who the hell was that,” Bro says.

Dave shrugs. “A friend, I guess.”


	8. CHAPTER 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Karkat and Dave talk about Dave's living situation.

 

There must have been steam coming out of his ears by the time Karkat made it down the stairs. Bro is a  _ fucking  _ **_asshole_ ** .

He takes deep breaths, trying to calm himself down. Then he realizes he has to walk the whole way to his apartment.

Fuck.

_ I really need to plan things better. _

Karkat kicks a rock down the road, shoving his hands in his pockets, and began to walk down the sidewalk. He bites his lip, looking up at the horizon between the buildings. The sun is low in the sky, sending streaks of red and orange across it. Perfect time for contemplation.

What even is his relationship with Dave?

It doesn’t fit any of the quadrants, at least not yet. They don’t hang out like normal friends and certainly don’t act like them. 

Karkat frowns and bites his cheek, glancing back behind him at Dave’s apartment building.

_ I hope he’s okay _ , Karkat thinks.

 

***

After a bit of pacing back and forth through his apartment, Karkat stops, massaging his temples. Why is he so worried about the motherfucker? He can take care of himself.

…

Fuck it.

Karkat whips out his phone and opens Trollian. He clicks on Dave’s name and begins typing out a message before his brain can catch up to his actions.

 

carcinoGeneticist [CG]  began trolling  turntechGodhead [TG]

 

CG: DAVE.

CG: DAVE, ARE YOU THERE?

CG: WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT SOMETHING.

\-- turntechGodhead joined the chat! --

TG: hey karkat whats up

CG: I’M NOT GOING TO SUGARCOAT THIS.

TG: you never do

CG: YOUR “BROTHER” IS AN ABUSIVE ASSHOLE.

TG: i thought we already established that

CG: I’M NOT DONE YET, DAVE.

TG: k

CG: I DON’T THINK

CG: I DON’T THINK YOU SHOULD LIVE WITH HIM ANYMORE

TG: what

CG: DAVE, HE PHYSICALLY AND EMOTIONALLY ABUSES YOU. YOU CAN PRESS CHARGES FOR THAT.

TG: um

TG: do we have to talk about this

CG: YES. BELIEVE IT OR NOT, I’M CONCERNED ABOUT YOU.

TG: aw

TG: thats gay

CG: DAVE THIS IS SERIOUS.

TG: okay

CG: AS I WAS SAYING, I DON’T THINK YOU SHOULD LIVE WITH YOUR BROTHER ANYMORE.

TG: whats that supposed to mean

CG: IT MEANS YOU NEED TO MOVE OUT, ASSHOLE.

CG: LOOK, IT’S NOT HEALTHY FOR YOU TO LIVE WITH HIM ANYMORE. YOU’VE ALREADY SUSTAINED MULTIPLE SERIOUS INJURIES.

TG: look i appreciate the concern but the only family i have lives in new york

TG: im not about to move to new york

TG: i dont think rose would like that very much

CG: YOU DON’T HAVE TO LIVE WITH OTHER FAMILY.

TG: what are you implying

CG: I DON’T KNOW.

CG: JUST THAT YOU CAN STILL LIVE HERE.

TG: i dont have friends around here to move in with

CG: YES YOU DO, FUCKASS.

TG: what

CG: I’M YOUR FRIEND.

CG: SO, I GUESS YOU COULD

CG: YOU COULD MOVE IN WITH ME

TG: what

TG: oh

TG:  _ oh _

CG: FUCK. NEVERMIND.

TG: no that

TG: that makes some sense

TG: i guess

TG: how would we go about this though

CG: JUST GET YOUR SHIT AND MOVE THE FUCK OUT.

TG: i dont know how bro would react if i told him

CG: THEN DON’T TELL HIM.

TG: what

TG: just

TG: just leave

CG: YES.

TG: can i do that

CG: FOR GOG’S SAKE,  _ YES. _

TG: is that legal

CG: BRO DOESN’T SEEM TO CARE ABOUT THE LAW, DOES HE.

TG: when do i do that though

CG: PROBABLY AS SOON AS FUCKING POSSIBLE.

TG: what is considered as soon as fucking possible

CG: “AS SOON AS FUCKING POSSIBLE” MEANS BY THE END OF NEXT WEEK, STRIDER.

 

Dave is not responding.

Karkat waits.

And waits.

Nothing happens.

CG: …

CG: DAVE?

TG: yeah

TG: ok

TG: ok

CG: DON’T DO THAT, I THOUGHT YOU DIED.

TG: oh

TG: sorry

TG: i

TG: i have to go

 

turntechGodhead [TG]  ceased pestering  carcinoGeneticist [CG]

 

Dave was acting strange.

That was probably due to the shouting match Karkat had with Bro earlier. This was also probably a touchy subject for him.

Still, Karkat can’t help but worry.

 

***

 

Karkat doesn’t hear from or anything about Clockwork for the next three days.

He looks at Dave from the corner of his eye, who looks utterly exhausted, not bothering to brush the hair out of his face.

Dave is looking at his phone, presumably messaging his other friends. Blocks of purple text fill the screen, but Karkat can’t make anything out apart from that.

Finally, Dave sets his phone in the grass and leans against the tree behind them with a sigh.

Karkat breaks the silence. “How close are you to moving?”

Dave jumps at the sudden noise, but recovers quickly. “Just need to figure out a way to leave without him noticing at the time but also make sure he knows how awful he is at the same time.” 

“As long as you get the fuck out of there, it’ll be fine.”

The bell rings, calling the students back inside. Dave stands, waiting for Karkat to pick up his things. He offers a hand to the troll and Karkat stares at him for a moment before snapping back to reality and taking his hand. Dave hauls him to his feet and they start to walk down the hill towards the school together.

Karkat struggles to hide the blush on his cheeks.


	9. chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dave moves in with Karkat.

Dave enters his apartment in much more of a panic than usual. He doesn’t bother closing the door since he’ll be leaving in a few minutes anyway.

Struggling to keep his breathing steady, he grabs a bag from his bedroom and turns around to head out the door, staring at the ground.

Bad idea.

He nearly collides with Bro.

Dave’s breath catches in his throat. Slowly, heart pounding, he looks up, meeting Bro’s gaze.

“Didn’t I at least teach you _some_ manners?” Bro says, gesturing to the door.

Dave does not respond. He looks down again, focusing on breathing. The ground isn’t spinning like the rest of his surroundings.

“Where are you going, anyway?”

Dave opens his mouth to answer, but his tongue is completely dry. He swallows and tries again. “I… I’m leaving.”

Bro laughs, but it’s dry and holds no sounds of mirth. “What, like you’re moving out?”

Bro stops laughing when Dave slowly nods. Wincing slightly, he glances up, scanning Bro’s face for an expression, a reaction, _something._ All he gets is a raised eyebrow, but even that’s unusual for Bro, with his deadpan expression.

When nothing else happens, Dave tries to walk around his brother, but he’s blocked by a sudden sword trap. He jumps back with a surprised yelp.

Karkat’s ramblings about emotional abuse are beginning to make more sense now.

He takes a deep breath and starts to walk out the door.

“Are you actually serious?” Bro asks.

Dave nearly jumps out of his skin.

“Yes,” he murmurs.

He hears Bro shift behind him. “Why, exactly?”

Dave closes his eyes and focuses on breathing properly. His heart rate is definitely not going back to normal any time soon. “Because…” he swallows, a lump in the back of his throat. “Because you’re abusive.”

Silence.

He’s afraid to turn around.

“What?”

“I said that you’re abusive,” Dave repeats, hands trembling. More silence.

Slowly, he turns around. Bro’s expression is unreadable.

“No, I’m not.”

Dave is taken aback. “Yes, you are.”

“I gave you shelter, food, water, even some shit you don’t even _need_ , and you call me abusive?” Bro says, his voice grower louder. Dave takes a step back, beginning to panic.

“That stuff doesn’t change the fact that you _are_ -” the teenager starts.

“I do _not abuse you!_ ” Bro shouts, raising his arm in the air, fist clenched.

Dave drops the bag and his covers his face with his arms, bracing himself.

Nothing happens.

The only sound that can be heard is Dave’s breathing.

He opens his eyes.

Bro’s hands are in his pockets. He’s angled slightly away from Dave now. He shows no signs of moving.

Carefully, as if not to attract attention to himself, Dave picks up his bag and backs up a few steps down the hallway before turning and running as far and as fast as he can away from Bro.

 

***

 

Dave checks Karkat’s address again before pushing the 4th floor’s button. The elevator doors close, leaving him alone. He drops his bag on the floor and slides down the wall, running his hand through his pale hair. Taking his shades off, he tries to control his breathing. Now was not the time for panic.

There’s a ding and the doors slide open. Quickly, Dave jumps to his feet, putting his shades back on and adopting his usual deadpan expression. With a huff, he picks up his bag and starts to walk down the hall, examining the numbers. Another address check.

Dave stands before the 13th apartment.

He takes a deep breath and lifts his hand to knock on the door when he notices that he’s trembling.

_Calm down, idiot, nothing bad will happen._

Dave knocks.

Nothing.

Then there’s a loud screech, followed by Karkat’s telltale yelling. A thud, then silence, then another shout. The door opens a few seconds later.

“Dave! Holy _fuck_ , I thought you had gone and _died.”_

Dave puts on a smirk, but it feels fake as hell. “You say that whenever I take longer than five seconds to do something. That’s gay.”

Karkat groans and rolls his rusty red eyes. Funny, Dave could have sworn they were brighter when they first started filling in. He shrugs it off.

The troll walks back into his apartment, Dave following not close behind. Apparently, the screeching came from a giant fucking crab. The crab that raised Karkat, according to Karkat’s outburst last week.

The apartment itself was pretty decent sized. The kitchen was off to the right with something resembling a living room to the left. It was pretty cluttered. There were two rooms in front of them.

One door was left ajar, revealing a surprisingly clean bathroom and the other was shut, but Dave guessed it was Karkat’s room.

“The couch is a fold-out, by the way,” Karkat mentions nonchalantly. Dave nods and drops his bag by the couch. Not much happens for the rest of the afternoon, surprisingly.

 

***

 

_They sit beneath the tree, wind gently blowing across the grass. Karkat stands, slinging his backpack over one shoulder. He starts to walk down the hill, but stops, turning slightly._

_“Aren’t you coming?”_

_Dave raises an eyebrow. “We just got here.”_

_Karkat rolls his eyes. They’re glowing a bright crimson. “It’s the end of the day, moron.”_

_Dave blinks, but shrugs. Duh. What was he thinking? He gets up and follows Karkat down the hill, walking towards the school. One last look behind them and then he opens the door, stepping through._

_Dave sets his backpack down, alone in his apartment. Quickly, he heads towards his room, ignoring the puppets and the black sludge dripping down the walls. It squelches beneath his feet, sticking to the bottom of his shoes. Dave enters his room, sitting on the edge of his bed, trying to stare at the wall and not the gradual flow of sticky slime._

_The front door of the apartment slams open, cracking the wall. Dave jumps, not quite seeing the thing in the doorway. Panic sets in._

_He knows he has to be quiet._

_The thing in the doorway stands in the living room now. He tries to look at it, but all he sees is a writhing mass of spikes and tentacles. Shuddering, Dave creeps past it and to the stairwell to the roof._

_It is already there when he runs out onto the scalding pavement._

_Dave’s breath quickens, drawing in quick gasps of air, but he can’t feel any of it reaching his lungs. The thing speaks, but he can’t understand the words, just the sounds coming from it like the screech of nails on a chalkboard, echoing inside his skull._

_“Shut up,” he whispers, clapping his hands over his ears. The wail grows louder, filling his head. “Shut up, shut up, shut up!”_

 

**D̪̮͖͖̯̩̻ͣ́ͨ̒́͑̕ͅA̶̬͖͇͉̜͍̥̮̍̀̉ͥ̇̉̑V̢̼̪̹̝̜̽͌͆ͥ́̿ͧ̊͟E̸̯̰̹̮̺̅͗͘**

  

_Dave freezes, rooted to the ground in absolute terror. The writhing black mass thrashes, shrieking._

_Dave raises his arms to brace himself._

_The last thing he feels is a sharp tentacle piercing his stomach._

 

Dave screams.

He sits bolt upright, hands in his hair, gasping for breath. Sweat drips down his forehead.

A door opens behind him. Yellow light spills out onto the carpet, illuminating some of his surroundings. Karkat stands in the doorway.

“Dave?” His voice is still laden with sleep. “What happened?”

Dave shakes his head. “Nothing. It’s stupid.”

Karkat raises an eyebrow. His eyes are glowing.

“It’s nothing, Karkat. Go back to sleep,” Dave says, more forcefully this time. The troll shrugs, looking a bit confused, and closes the door, the yellow light vanishing with him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope that nightmare didnt suck


	10. CHAPTER 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Karkat has a crisis at 3 in the morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> kinda short but hey double update so

Dave has been living with Karkat for about a week now. They had run into some awkward situations, but both had agreed never to mention them ever again.

Karkat finds himself growing more attached to the moron, but denies every second of it.

But, right now, as Karkat lies awake at 3 am, he finds his thoughts wandering back to Dave annoyingly often. What exactly are his feelings for the fucker? Frowning, he recounts all the information he knows about the quadrants. 

He crosses out the ashen quadrant immediately. Pitch, flushed, and pale remain.

As much as Karkat acts like he does, he doesn’t  _ actually  _ hate Dave, so pitch is out. That only leaves pale and flush.

Dear Lord.

Pale doesn’t feel right, either. It just… doesn’t fit. That only leaves…

Oh hell no.

Karkat feels himself blush and immediately hates himself for it. There is no fucking way that he is flush for that dumbass trumpet fuck. Absolutely no fucking way.

Time to logic himself out of this embarrassment.

People didn’t  _ have  _ to be in quadrants with one another. They can be just friends. So sometimes relationships didn’t have specific labels. Right??

There might just not be a name for the love he felt for Dave.

…

Wait.

Did… did he just…

Did he just voluntarily think that?

_ Fuck. _

Karkat covers his face with his hands and sinks deeper into the sopor, groaning. Fuck that noise, there was no way he could actually be  _ flushed _ for Dave, of all people. He refuses to believe it. Feelings are complicated, it was a mistake to think about them in the first place.

It was a mistake to have them in the first place.

Karkat sighs and vows never to think about this ever again.

 

***

 

That proves to be easier said than done.

Dave is leaning against the wall by the couch when Karkat leaves his room the next morning, scrolling through his phone. 

“Hey Karkat,” he says casually, not looking up.

Karkat’s breath hitches.

_ Fuck. Don’t do this. I refuse to believe-  _ Karkat cuts himself off before he can finish that thought, pouring water into the coffee machine and loading in some coffee grounds. He sits at the kitchen island and grabs one of the romance novels laying out. Karkat tries to read it, but ends up just looking at Dave from over the top of the pages. 

There’s a comfortable silence hanging in the air, and Dave shifts, running his hand through his light blonde hair. 

The coffee machine makes a noise and Karkat snaps out of his trance, grabbing the travel mug and his backpack.

“Come on, Dave, we’re taking the bus today because I forgot to get gas,” Karkat says, avoiding eye contact.

 

***

 

Karkat is dead. He has died. Of boredom. Honestly, how long can people discuss the meaning of a character ordering a specific type of soup? He’s long since zoned out. 

Beside him, Dave is doodling shitty stick figures in his notebook and also probably writing down his Hot New Rap™.   Karkat watches him for a while before pointing at one with his pencil.

“Is that supposed to be me?”

Dave just smirks.

Fucking.

Karkat rolls his eyes dramatically, hoping that he isn’t blushing. He rests his head on his desk, hoping that maybe he can sleep through this stupid fucking class, but he ends up staring at the strands of blonde hair that fall in Dave’s face. From the angle he’s looking at, he can see Dave’s eyes behind the obnoxious shades. There’s something familiar about this whole thing, but he can’t put his finger on it.

Dave catches him staring and raises an eyebrow, smirk still on his stupid face.

Karkat blushes and flips him off under the desk.

He zones back into the conversation for about 3 seconds before getting bored again. They’ve moved on from soup to the order of ice cream in the same scene of the book. Honestly, he couldn’t care less.

The bell rings, releasing them from their hell.

Karkat slings his backpack over his shoulder and waits for Dave to put his stuff away. 

But, as Dave glances at Karkat as they part ways for their next class, Karkat realizes he might be gayer than originally planned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> that callback tho


	11. chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dave is very nervous about something he has to do today.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i added another section to this chapter because it was too short

tentacleTherapist [TT] began pestering turntechGodhead [TG]

TT: Dearest brother, it has come to my attention that you have not contacted many of your friends for the past week or so.

TT: Has something happened?

TT: You know how Jade would get if you had died.

TG: holy fuck why does everyone think that i died if i dont talk to them for like three days

TT: You do have a habit of never shutting up.

TG: i have to do like

TG: important stuff

TG: like making sick beats

TT: And yet you haven’t forced your so called “sick beats” on any of us for quite some time.

TG: shut the fuck up

TG: anyway i gotta go

TG: go annoy your girlfriend or something

TT: It’s called a matesprit, brother.

turntechGodhead [TG] ceased pestering tentacleTherapist [TT]

 

Dave exits the chat window before things can escalate any further. A conversation with Rose was not the ideal way to start any day of the week. Especially not today.

It was 6:27, which meant Karkat would make his coffee in about 2 or 3 minutes and they would walk to the bus stop together.

He collapses onto the couch with a sigh, running his hand through his hair. Today was the day. He had to do it today.

Karkat walks into the living room, starting up the coffee machine as usual. Dave mutters a good morning or something, engrossed in his thoughts. The silence is unbearable.

Finally, the troll grabs the travel mug and they both start to walk down the hall.

Dave opens his mouth to say something, but stops, staring down at the ground as they walk.

 

***

 

The next few hours are complete torture. Dave dreads every second of them leading up to the lunch break, barely able to focus on anything being covered in his classes. While some days his classes are a blur, today they seem to drag on forever, each second an eternity. The clock is moving at an incredibly slow pace, but at the same time it moves too fast. The last class before lunch is both an eternity and impossibly brief.

The bell rings.

Dave grabs his backpack and forces himself to walk the normal route, stopping by the math room to meet up with Karkat before heading to the cafeteria.

He tries to swallow, but his mouth is dry.

“Let’s sit outside today,” Dave says, sounding much calmer than he is.

Karkat nods, leading the way through the overcrowded cafeteria and out the side door. Dave jogs the last few yards up the hill to the tree they’ve basically claimed as their own and sits down, focusing on breathing steadily.

As soon as Karkat sits down beside him, he launches into a rant about the latest shitty romance novel he’s read, but Dave isn’t listening.

 _Breathe,_ he tells himself, _just focus on breathing._

After a little while, Dave checks his internal clock and freezes. He has to do it _now,_ or he never will.

He nervously tugs at his hair. The wind blows, sending flower petals and leaves dancing through the air around them.

Karkat isn’t looking at Dave. He isn’t looking anywhere in particular. He’s talking with his hands, getting more animated as he talks faster. The breeze ruffles his red tinged hair, exposing his nubby horns.

Dave finally grows impatient. “Karkat, I have to tell you something,” he interrupts.

Karkat trails off and turns to look at him. Dave’s stomach drops and he forces himself to take a shaky breath in. Why the fuck is he so nervous? He beats up criminals in his spare time! This should be nothing in comparison. But it’s everything.

“I’ve been meaning to tell you this for a while and it probably makes no sense because I’m pretty sure you hate me but I need to get this off my chest and I hope that you understand but you probably won’t because I’m just a douche so this is really hard for me to say but-”

“Dave.”

Dave glances up. Karkat is looking at him, with a slightly confused expression. An awkward smile tugs at the corners of his mouth. “Just say it.”

Dave bites his lip, his face growing hot. He feels tears sting at his eyes and he looks away again.

“I…”

Karkat looks at him expectantly.

“I have a huge crush on you,” he mumbles. His face burns. He steals a glance at Karkat and immediately regrets it. The troll’s face is unreadable.

“You’re red for me?” Karkat asks, his voice flat.

Dave tries to hold back the tears threatening to spill out of his eyes at any given moment. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry…” he says, voice soft. A hand pushes his shades to the top of his head.

Karkat has a slight smile on his face. “Don’t apologize.”

“I thought you hated me?”

“Why the fuck would I hate you? Do you even hear yourself right now?”

Dave closes his mouth and looks at the grass underneath them. It sways in the wind.

Karkat tilts Dave’s face up. His face is much closer than it was before. Dave turns red.

Their lips meet.

Dave is the first one to pull away. He stares at Karkat, bewildered.

 

Suddenly, from down the hill, someone shouts, “Looks like Dave and Karkat got together!”

“ _FINALLY,”_ says another.

Karkat flips them off.

 

***

 

Dave sighs, looking at the news article on his phone.  _ “Superhero missing? Top 5 Reasons Clockwork Hasn’t Been Out In A While.” _

He has  _ not  _ been keeping up with superhero stuff. And now he has a new challenge to face.

It’s going to be difficult to do superhero things when he’s living with Karkat.

Eventually he just decides to wing it.

It’s around 7 when Karkat retreats to his room. Dave seizes the opportunity and quickly changes into his superhero costume(wishing that he had a montage or something) and leaves the apartment.

The sounds of traffic fill the streets, orange streetlights blocking out the stars. 

The norm is interrupted by a scream ringing through the air. How convenient.

Dave whips his head around, freezing time as he tries to pinpoint the source of the noise. It had to be nearby.

He frowns, jogging towards the area it came from. The quicker he finds it, the better. Holding time like this for extended periods of time can really fuck with his head. Blinking hard, he turns slightly, finally spotting a human man frozen in the action of grabbing a troll girl’s horn. Perfect timing. The edges of his vision had begun to blur.

With a snap, time quickly resumes. The human man wraps his hand around the cat-ear shaped horn and drags the troll girl towards him. A surge of rage bursts through Dave and he feels his fist connect with the man’s face. He splutters, releasing the girl and stumbling back.

“Definitely not sorry about that!” Dave trills, pushing the man back a little more before turning to the troll girl, who is pulling down on her blue hat in excitement. “You okay?” he asks. She squeals in response. “I’ll take that as a yes,” Dave decides.

The man behind him has recovered, and Dave whirls around to face him. He brings his foot up in a swift kick, knocking the man to the ground.

“You’ll need to call the police, okay? I’m not actually qualified to handle legal situations, technically,” Dave calls back to the girl.

“Okay!” she squeaks. She dials the number, says where they are, and then hangs up. “Could I purrhaps get a selfie with you?”

Dave grins. “Yeah, sure.”

The girl pulls her phone out from her green coat pocket. She snaps a picture, immediately uploading it on multiple social media platforms. Dave notes her typing quirk, consisting of 3’s and cat puns. 

“Thank you! I apawlogize if I was a purrden, but I’ve been wanting to meet you for furever!” the olive-blooded troll girl gushes, bouncing on her toes. 

Dave winks. “You seem pretty chill. Catch ya later,” he says, and starts to run back the way he came from. A sudden burst of energy surges through him and he pumps his fist in the air.

“Clockwork is back, baby!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> nice


	12. CHAPTER 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Karkat gets fed up with all the articles about Clockwork's long-awaited reappearance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i added another section to the end of the last chapter, if you haven't seen it yet!

If Karkat sees another damn link to that  _ fucking  _ BuzzFeed article  _ one more time… _

Yeah, it’s been like 2 weeks since someone had seen Clockwork, but honestly, is it  _ that  _ exciting?

Karkat groans and pinches the bridge of his nose. He looks up at Dave, who is grinning at his phone obnoxiously. “What are you so happy about?” he finds himself muttering.

“Can’t a man just appreciate memes?”

“No.”

Dave shrugs and stands up. He shoves his phone in his back pocket before swinging his battered black backpack over his shoulder. “Well, are you ready or not?”

Karkat nods and grabs his travel mug, sliding his backpack on. Phone clutched in his hand, he and Dave take the elevator down to catch the bus. 

As Dave sits down on the bench to wait, Karkat’s phone buzzes with another notification. To no one’s surprise, it’s a link to that stupid fucking BuzzFeed article about that fucking superhero. With a defeated sigh, the troll finally clicks the link and opens the article. The clickbait-esque headline is displayed across the screen in big bold letters, declaring  _ “Texas Superhero Returns to Fight Crime After Long Absence”. _

The story is about what Karkat expected. No Clockwork sightings for a week or two, people getting worried/upset, conspiracy theories, recent selfie suddenly trending, and _ wait a fucking second.  _ Is that… the olive-blooded cashier who gave Karkat her number? Karkat looks again and yep, that sure is her, with her telltale blue hat and cat ear shaped horns.

Karkat has no idea what to do with this discovery. 

Suggested articles include some stuff on heroes in New York and Seattle, like he cares about that shit.

The obnoxious yellow bus rolls to a stop in front of the two, and Karkat prepares to endure the horror of high schoolers.

 

***

 

Just how big of a fucking deal is Clockwork, anyway? He’s an obnoxious, flirty douche who doesn’t care for personal space or basic decency. But everyone sure loves talking about him.

Other gossip topics aren’t much better. Karkat couldn’t care less about the love life of some random senior or that someone got suspended for throwing scissors at a teacher. 

“Oh my word,  _ who the hell cares?”  _ the troll finally groans into his arms, head on his desk.

“Um, it’s  _ Clockwork? _ The superhero? You know, one of the top ranked superheroes in the U.S.?” some random troll responds.

They rank superheroes? Since when?

“Class, settle down and work on your silent reading. I know that you definitely haven’t read the required pages already,” the teacher calls from the front of the room.

Karkat rolls his eyes and sinks farther down into his chair. Dave catches his eye from across the classroom and winks. The troll feels his face go red with a blush and quickly buries his nose in the book.

 

***

 

Dave and Karkat sit in the lunchroom today, not feeling up to enduring the sun. This quickly proves to be a mistake, however, as nosy fucking people have no sense of personal space or personal questions.

“Are you guys together now?”

“What happened yesterday? Everyone’s talking about it but won’t tell me.”

Karkat slams his book on the table. “Why the  _ fuck  _ are we so interesting now? No one cared before! Can’t you fucksponges just go back to gossiping about the superhero or whatever the fuck?”

Dave snorts next to him, smiling breaking out across his face. “Eloquent,” he deadpans, but it doesn’t quite have the desired effect when he’s grinning like a maniac.

Finally, the three people who were bothering them shrug and head back to their corners of nosy solitude.

“Took them long enough,” Karkat mutters, leaning against Dave’s shoulder. Dave boops his nose and Karkat snarls, but doesn’t move away.

 

***

 

Surprisingly, over the course of the next three days, Karkat doesn’t run into Clockwork. Not once.

Not that he’s complaining, of course, but usually he’d get approached by the superhero multiple times in a week.

Karkat shakes himself out of his thoughts and tries to focus on the book in his hands. The words blur together with each passing moment that he forces himself to stare at them, not actually taking any meaning from the letters. He’s been looking at the same page for the past five minutes. 

The apartment door opens and Dave walks in. He throws up a peace sign in a half-assed greeting and collapses onto the couch with a sigh. His arms are scraped up and down like he had rolled on the cement and there’s a cut above his eyebrow, flakes of dried blood in his hair.

“What the fuck happened to you?” Karkat asks. He sets his book down, raising an eyebrow in confusion.

Dave glances up, and slides his shades over his red eyes with a shrug. “Stuff,” he says.

“That doesn’t count as an answer.”

Dave just shrugs again. “If I say that I tripped, will you be satisfied?”

“No.”

“Then it was stuff.”

Karkat groans. “You’re impossible, you know that?”

Dave grins.

 

***

 

After a few more strange instances like that with Dave, Karkat begins to grow… suspicious. 

Once he had retreated to his room, he heard Dave leave the apartment. That seemed to be a normal occurrence, but he never said  _ why  _ he was leaving. He always seemed to have a new injury in the morning. And, to top it all off, Dave always changed the topic if Karkat brought them up.

That’s why Karkat is leaning against his door at 11 at night, listening for any signs of motion in the apartment. He absentmindedly thumbs through the shitty romance novel he had been reading, only catching snippets of the events on the pages. The minutes ticked on, and with each passing moment he grew more restless. 

There isn’t a sound in the apartment until way past midnight. Karkat had dozed off a while ago. 

The front door opens.

Karkat awakes with a start, nearly smacking the back of his head into his bedroom door. He edges away from it, standing up and placing his hand on the doorknob.

Dave is pacing back and forth through the apartment, muttering something. Karkat hesitates.

Slowly, he releases the doorknob. Why would Dave be out at one in the morning? How often does he do this, anyway?

Wait.

Blonde, high school age, red eyes, annoyingly tall…

No. No way. Karkat refuses to believe it. And yet…

Holding his breath, the troll picks up his phone from the end table. He opens the Twitter app, and sure enough, retweets of a random human’s selfie with Clockwork, posted around 11:30, all over his timeline. The superhero’s mask is torn slightly, and a gash on his face is oozing blood down his face. 

Karkat sets his phone down and quietly crosses his room, placing his hand on the doorknob again. Heart pounding, he turns it and slowly pushes the door open.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh boy it sure has been a while whoops  
> next chapter should hopefully be out sooner but no promises  
> yes i hate my update schedule as much as you do  
> anyways leave comments!! i love getting them!


	13. chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dave gets himself in some trouble and makes a very big, spur of the moment decision.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry about the long wait! im going to be stereotypical and say that it was because of an excessive amount of schoolwork along with theatre stuff(which is true) and hopefully that makes you forgive me for my absolutely terrible update schedule

Dave closes the door as quietly as he can, one gloved hand covering the side of his face. He swears quietly under his breath. There’s no way Karkat wouldn’t notice a giant fucking gash on the side of his head. Also, where would Dave even put his blood-stained clothes to hide them?

He paces back and forth, muttering nonsense to himself. The blood trickles down his cheek and he bites his lip. He should wash his face.

Gingerly, he removes his hand from the gash and inspects the amount of blood coating his fingers. Not too bad, considering other wounds he’s had before.

Movement inside Karkat’s room makes him freeze. He’s still in full costume.

Cautiously, as quietly as possible, Dave takes off his goggles and unties his mask, shoving them into the bottom of his backpack. He slides off his jacket and stuffs it in after the mask, hastily zipping the pocket closed. After some consideration, Dave peels off his gloves and presses them to the side of his head. They were done for anyway.

Dave sits on the couch, head throbbing. A few minutes pass in silence, and with each passing second, his eyelids grow heavier.

Then the doorknob turns.

Karkat’s doorknob, to be specific. The door doesn’t open. Dave breathes a sigh of relief. He leans back against the couch cushions and closes his eyes for a moment.

The door opens anyway, the silhouette of the short troll just visible in the doorway. Moonlight pours in through the window, softly outlining his figure. Dave freezes.

Karkat is holding his phone in one hand, open to Twitter. He looks shocked, or maybe confused, and Dave wishes he had put his shades back on.

“Dave, are you bleeding?” is all the troll says.

Grimly, Dave nods in response.

Karkat crosses the short distance between his room and the couch, kneeling down in front of Dave. He inspects the blood soaked gloves pressed to the wound, and the smeared red streaks on the blonde boy’s jaw. Emotion passes over Karkat’s face, but Dave can’t tell what it is.

“Dave,” Karkat says softly. He lifts up his phone to display the selfie he had taken with that one human. “Please tell me it’s not true. You’re not still putting yourself in danger, not after Bro, are you?”

Dave doesn’t respond, but clenches his jaw and avoids Karkat’s eyes.

“Oh, Dave…”

A drop of blood trickles down his face. He feels tears well up in his eyes for the billionth time this month, cursing his emotions as he steps back from Karkat.

A look of hurt flashes across Karkat’s face, but he doesn’t move closer to Dave. Somehow that’s more painful than the cut in the side of Dave’s head.

“I’m sorry,” is all he can bring himself to say.

“I just don’t want you getting hurt, or in a lot of danger,” Karkat replies.

“I can’t just very well leave other people in a lot of danger,” Dave says, more harshly than he meant to. He looks up from the floor at the troll in front of him.

Karkat meets Dave’s eyes. “I didn’t say that.”

“Well, you sure implied it, didn’t you.” Dave clenches his fists, emotion sparking in his chest.

“You’ve already gone through a lot, it wouldn’t hurt to stop and recover for a little,” Karkat returns. His voice is gentle, but tight, like he’s trying to stay calm.

“I tried that, and you saw what that led to! People get hurt because I’m not there to stop it!” Dave grows louder.

Karkat looks taken aback before snapping back with a retort. “You can’t save everyone, Dave! People are always getting hurt. You can’t fix every problem!”

“You think I don’t know that?”

“Please, Dave, you could get killed!”

“I know! But it’s not about me!”

“No, it’s about both of us. Did you ever stop to think about what would happen if you just disappeared one day and I never saw you again?” Karkat shouts. His eyes are wet with red-tinted tears. Dave is stunned into silence.

“Karkat, I…” He trails off.

The troll hiccups, and runs back into his room.

Dave buries his head in his hands. What has he done?

He sits down on the couch, staring at the floor. Occasionally, he’ll glance at Karkat’s door, hoping he’ll come back, but he doesn’t. Eventually, his thoughts wander back to the end of the conversation.  _ What would happen if you disappeared one day? _

What would happen…

Dave can’t stay. He hurts Karkat too much and he can’t bear to be the one who makes him cry ever again.

In a spur of the moment decision, the blonde boy pulls out his phone and buys the exact thing he needs to get out of here. He stands up and grabs his backpack, slinging over one shoulder. Before he leaves the apartment, he scribbles out a note and sticks it on the counter. Dave takes one last glance at Karkat’s door. Then he turns the knob and walks out into the hall.

Once Dave is out of the building, he types in a phone number that’s memorized somewhere in the back of his mind. It rings five times before someone picks up.

“Dave? It’s 3 in the morning here, what do you want?”

Dave doesn’t realize he’s crying until he tries to speak.

 

***

 

The taxi ride drags on for forever, silent and ominous. When it finally pulls to a stop, Dave tips the driver as much as he can and slides out of the car. He stares up at the large building, wondering if this is actually a good idea. It doesn’t matter, though. It’s too late to go back now.

The whole process of getting through security seems to take longer than the taxi ride(which it probably does), taking up whole eternities. Metal detectors are a pain, beeping angrily at him for wearing shades. Dave shuffles through the standard procedures of the whole process like a half-asleep zombie, mind still on the argument with Karkat. 

Finally, he sits down on a chair, mindlessly scrolling through social medias, not absorbing any information presented. The words blur together and eventually he’s only scrolling for the repetitive motion. It’s nice to have a constant thing in the midst of this whole mess.

The phone screen lights up with a message.

 

gardenGnostic [GG]  began pestering  turntechGodhead [TG]

 

GG: hey dave, are you okay?

TG: im perfect as always why do you ask

GG: well, it seems like youre awake but you arent doing anything like superhero stuff

GG: i dont know if you just couldnt sleep or something but it doesnt look like youre in a familiar location

TG: thats cause im not

TG: how did you know i was awake anyway

GG: i saw it in the clouds!

TG: right that makes total sense

TG: all hail jade and her magical witch powers

GG: :D

GG: but in all seriousness

TG: when are you ever serious

GG: im serious when my friends are upset and they wont tell me why theyre sad!!!

GG: what happened?

GG: is it something to do with school?

TG: no

GG: superhero stuff?

TG: sorta i guess

GG: did you lose a fight?

GG: thats nothing to be ashamed about! you cant beat everything!

TG: no

GG: is it karkat?

GG: …

GG: dave?

GG: what happened between you two?

 

turntechGodhead [TG]  ceased pestering  gardenGnostic [GG]

 

GG: im sorry dave

GG: if something did happen, you can talk to me or john or rose whenever youre ready

GG: talk to you later

 

gardenGnostic [GG]  ceased pestering  turntechGodhead [TG]

 

Dave locks his phone and watches the screen shut off. Too much social interaction. He just wants to curl up into a ball, scream, and die. Is that too much to ask?

He lets out a sigh and rubs his forehead. The clock ticks on and Dave knows it’s around 3 in the morning now. Just a few more minutes.

Trying to keep his mind on something else, something comforting, proves to be much harder than it should. His thoughts just keep wandering back to Karkat, each time more painful than the last.

Finally, a voice comes on over the intercom. Dave stands up, stretches, and grabs his backpack before following a couple other people where he needs to go.

The clump straightens into a line as they get closer. Dave is near the back, watching as the people move agonizingly slow. Is he doing that?

Numbers thin out as everybody takes a seat. Dave sighs and shifts uncomfortably. He bites his lip, staring at the aisle. He blinks hard, letting out a breath through his nose. No more stalling.

Dave steps through the door and boards the 3:30 am flight for New York.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hopefully i update soon but we'll never know
> 
> also my birthday is tomorrow you probably dont care but i thought you should know anyway


	14. CHAPTER 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Karkat realizes his mistake and decides to add another decision to the impulsive choice train.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i know it's been like a month and some of that was me slacking off but also i was busy with tech and show week for the musical i was in. but hey at least it wasn't too long of a wait
> 
> i think

The apartment is empty when Karkat leaves his room the next day. Dave’s bag is gone.

Karkat’s stomach drops.

He fucked up.

The troll looks around, looking for any sign of the other boy. There’s some drops of blood from last night, but all his stuff is gone. Karkat begins to hyperventilate, adrenaline pumping through his veins. Then he spots the yellow paper on the counter.

He snatches it up and scans the words, growing more anxious with each syllable.

_ karkat, _

_ im sorry about everything. i should have told you about me earlier. i left to take some time to rethink things. i dont know when ill be back but dont worry.  _

_ -dave _

 

What has he done? There’s no telling where Dave could have gone. Karkat pulls out his phone and pulls up Dave’s name.

 

carcinoGeneticist [CG]  began trolling  turntechGodhead [TG]

 

CG: DAVE?

CG: DAVE, WHERE ARE YOU?

CG: I’M SORRY ABOUT EVERYTHING I SAID LAST NIGHT, I WASN’T THINKING STRAIGHT.

CG: I WAS SCARED FOR YOU.

CG: I’M SCARED FOR YOU RIGHT NOW, TOO.

CG: I KNOW YOU AREN’T READING THESE, BUT IF YOU DO, I JUST WANT YOU TO KNOW I’M SORRY.

CG: YOU DON’T HAVE TO COME BACK RIGHT AWAY, BUT AT LEAST LET ME KNOW WHERE YOU ARE, OKAY?

CG: <3

 

carcinoGeneticist [CG]  ceased trolling  turntechGodhead [TG]

 

Karkat sighs, leaning against the counter and sliding to the floor. He tugs his hair and blinks tears out of his eyes.  _ Damn it, Dave, why do I have to care so much about you?  _

For the next few minutes, Karkat continuously checks his phone, hoping to see that Dave at least read his messages. Nothing.

What were his friends’ names? He had told Karkat about finding out that two of his friends were related, and his other friend was his own sister. That was Rose, right? Her chumhandle was something about tentacles and psychology.

Karkat frowns, biting his lip. He scrolls back through his messages with Dave, trying to see if Rose’s chumhandle was there somewhere. 

Nothing.

Damn it, Dave!

His phone lights up with a message from someone he’d never seen before. Curiously, Karkat taps it, wondering if it has anything to do with Dave.

 

gardenGnostic [GG]  began pestering  carcinoGeneticist [CG]

 

GG: hey karkat!

CG: WHO ARE YOU?

GG: im one of daves friends!

CG: WAIT, ARE YOU THE CRAZY ONE? THAT FOUND OUT ABOUT THE SIBLING THING?

GG: yeah! :D my name is jade!

GG: anyway, i know that dave left, and i think i know where he went!

CG: YOU DO? WHERE IS HE?

GG: he went to see his sister! he didnt know who else to go to

GG: i dont think you have roses chumhandle, do you?

CG: NO, I DON’T.

GG: here, her chumhandle is  tentacleTherapist.  be warned, she has a bit of a case of purple prose

CG: OH MY WORD, THANK YOU.

GG: its no problem! i dont want to see dave get hurt anymore than you do. though that might be unavoidable... 

CG: WHAT’S THAT LAST BIT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?

GG: its nothing! anyway, dont worry. dave will come around!

CG: WAIT, DOESN’T ROSE LIVE IN NEW YORK?

CG: JADE?

GG: sorry! bec wanted something. ive gotta go, send me updates!

CG: WAIT!

GG: talk to you later! :D

 

gardenGnostic [GG]  ceased pestering  carcinoGeneticist [CG]

 

CG: DAMN IT.

 

Not the weirdest conversation he’d had. But now he knows where Dave is. Sort of.

With a sigh, Karkat pulls up a new message and carefully types in Rose’s chumhandle, double-checking just to make sure. 

 

carcinoGeneticist [CG]  began trolling  tentacleTherapist [TT]

 

CG: YOU’RE ROSE LALONDE, RIGHT?

TT: That is the name I use, yes.

CG: JADE SAID THAT DAVE WENT TO SEE YOU.

TT: Well, she’d be right about that. That isn’t particularly surprising, though. She’s right about a lot of things. I gather that you’re Karkat?

CG: YEAH. IS DAVE THERE?

TT: He is, but he’s asleep. He showed up at 4 or 5 in the morning, but fortunately I was awake.

CG: DID HE TELL YOU WHY HE CAME TO VISIT YOU?

TT: Not much. He was incredibly exhausted and practically collapsed as soon as he walked in the door.

TT: I’d imagine it would be something about your... idiosyncratic relations. 

CG: IDIOSYNCRATIC? DO YOU REGULARLY READ A THESAURUS FOR FUN OR SOMETHING?

TT: Yes, Karkat. I absolutely set aside hours of my day just to carefully and lovingly pluck my well-worn thesaurus with crisp, yellowing pages, and take my sweet time to read and absorb the definition and variations of each word until I finally slam the volume shut with glowing satisfaction that yes, I have just read the thesaurus from cover to cover in a single sitting yet again, and then devolve into a coughing fit from the resulting cloud of dust from such an old book.

CG: SHE... REALLY WASN’T KIDDING ABOUT THE PURPLE PROSE.

TT: Hold that thought for a moment, Karkat, Dave is waking up.

CG: IS HE OKAY? WHY DID HE LEAVE?

CG: DID HE SAY ANYTHING?

TT: He only woke up a few moments ago.

CG: TELL ME WHAT HAPPENS.

TT: Don’t overexert yourself, Karkat. I’ll keep you updated on Dave.

TT: In the meantime, get some rest. You’ll need it after panicking like this.

CG: FINE.

 

carcinoGeneticist [CG]  ceased trolling  tentacleTherapist

 

Karkat sets his phone next to him on the floor and stares at the couch across the room. Not knowing exactly what to do in his worried state, he continues checking his messages periodically. Nothing happens for the next fifteen minutes, however.

Growing impatient, Karkat taps on the previous conversation with Jade.

 

carcinoGeneticist [CG]  began trolling  gardenGnostic [GG]

 

CG: WHERE DOES ROSE LIVE?

GG: i thought you knew? she lives in new york

CG: YEAH, I KNOW THAT, BUT WHERE IN NEW YORK EXACTLY?

GG: i dont know, she never told me

CG: THEN HOW THE FUCK DOES DAVE KNOW WHERE SHE LIVES?

GG: hang on ill be right back

GG: it might take me a little while so... 

 

gardenGnostic [GG]  has gone idle.

 

CG: GREAT.

 

Karkat sighs and hits his head back against the counter. 

He’d better start packing if he wants to kill time.

Karkat stands and enters his bedroom, grabbing an empty bag and shoving some clothes inside. He unplugs his phone charger from the wall and wraps the cord around it, placing it on top of a black sweater. 

There’s a ding and Karkat’s phone screen lights up with a notification. He quickly scans it and books plane tickets for the closest possible time.

Today sure is a good day for bad impulsive decisions, isn’t it.

 

***

 

It’s around 2:46 when Karkat leaves the airport. He flags down a cab and gives the driver a tip in advance before telling him where to go.

 

It takes a while before he can find Rose’s house.

When he does, he feels a little stupid, chasing his matesprit across the country to apologize. It seems like something out of a shitty romcom that Karkat would  _ totally _ watch every month.

But he knocks on the door nonetheless. 

It’s opened by a short girl(who’s still taller than him, but that’s expected) with dark skin and short, platinum blonde hair pulled back with a headband. That couldn’t be-

“Why am I not surprised,” the girl says, rolling her violet eyes. “I’m Rose, by the way. Come in, I guess.”

Karkat stands there awkwardly.

“Your boyfriend is upstairs somewhere, if he didn’t move in the past five or so minutes. Don’t mind my mother, if you see her. She’s most likely drunk.”

Rose has started walking inside, so Karkat quickly follows her. “I’m not quite sure how Dave will react upon seeing you, but it would no doubt be entertaining to watch.” Rose turns to face Karkat and looks him up and down. “Well? Are you going to talk to him?”

Karkat blinks, and nods awkwardly, looking up at the large staircase. He starts to climb the steps, and Rose goes off to do something else. 

The Lalonde house is very intimidating. Sure, the jpegs of wizards that hang on the walls and the statues that line the hallways are shitty, but it doesn’t take away the ominous feeling. It just adds a whole other layer of uncertainty and discomfort to the whole thing.

A few of the doors are open. One leads to a room covered in books, dark clothing, and a half-knit scarf, which Karkat assumes to be Rose’s. Another opens to a bathroom. The last one is a walkway leading to what looks like an observatory of some sort. Not seeing another option, and not wanting to stay in a hallway full of wizards, Karkat takes the walkway.

Once inside, he hesitantly enters the observatory. His breath hitches when he sees the back of Dave’s head.

At the sound of Karkat’s shoes, Dave turns back to look.

Karkat can see his red eyes widen behind his dark glasses.

“Karkat?” he barely even whispers, full of shock.

The troll stands rooted to the ground, unable to make his feet move. He feels tears prick his eyes, but he blinks them back, determined not to cry. “I’m sorry,” he says. 

Dave is standing now, watery smile breaking out across his face. “I am too.”

He’s crossing the room, closing the distance between them. Karkat looks back up to meet his eyes, and the look of relief on Dave’s face is enough to make him smile. There’s only a couple of feet in between them now, but Dave doesn’t stop, pulling Karkat into a tight hug.

Karkat wraps his arms around Dave, holding him close to him. He doesn’t want to let him go, not again. But he pulls back a little, looking at Dave’s face.

He rises on his toes and presses their lips together in a soft kiss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh snap


	15. chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rose won't let Dave help them on superhero missions and he's very very very bored.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey hey hey guess who's terrible at posting in a timely manner you guess it it's me

Dave doesn’t deserve Karkat. He isn’t good enough of a person to deserve someone who would fly across the country like in some shitty rom com. But here they are, sitting in a spare room together.

Karkat is sitting on the floor, currently busy reading and neglecting to finish unpacking. Dave is sitting on the bed and leaning against the wall, currently busy wallowing in thoughts and self-loathing. They sit in comfortable silence, drinking in each other’s presence.

“Did you know that your sister and her matesprit are also superheroes?” Karkat finally breaks the silence. He doesn’t look up from his book as he says it.

Dave leans forward, looking at the short troll with a raised eyebrow. “What, really?  _ They’re  _ the kickass superhero partners in New York?” Karkat nods. “Wow. Actually, that’s not very surprising. I’m just gonna go off on a limb and say that John is the superhero everyone loves up in Seattle.”

Karkat gives a small laugh and Dave’s heart flutters. They’re back. 

“So how’d you figure out they were superheroes?”

Karkat scoffs. “They weren’t very concerned about their secret identities or whatever. Literally, they were in the front room and tying on their fucking masks and shit.”

Right as Karkat finishes his statement, Dave’s phone goes off with a message from Rose.

 

tentacleTherapist [TT]  began pestering  turntechGodhead [TG]

 

TT: I’m going out with Kanaya. Don’t do anything stupid while we’re gone.

TG: are you going out to fight supervillains

TG: you know

TG: cause youre a superhero and you neglected to tell me

TT: It was a part of my life that you never asked me about.

TG: whatever

TG: can i come with you guys

TT: No.

TG: what why

TG: im a superhero too

TG: i can beat up muggers

TG: fuck those guys

TT: If you show up in New York, people will know you aren’t there to protect your own city. Also, if you randomly show up with us, people will talk. It won’t end well.

TT: I have to go. I’ll talk with you later. And if you try coming anyway, I will deck you.

TG: fine

TG: whatever

 

tentacleTherapist [TT]  ceased pestering  turntechGodhead [TG]

 

Dave groaned and turned off his phone. Whatever.

 

***

 

It happened again the next day, and the next, and the next. Every time Dave offered to help Rose and Kanaya, they would shut him down.

Dave groans and lies face down on the bed. He’s  _ so bored.  _ What is someone even supposed to do when they can’t run around and punch people for doing shitty things? He makes another, more dramatic noise and runs his hands through his hair.

Karkat walks into the room, gives one look at him, and rolls his eyes. “Okay, what the fuck are you doing?”

Dave groans and rolls over onto his back. “I’m so fucking bored.”

“You haven’t even tried to annoy the fuck out of anyone with your ‘sick beats’ or whatever the fuck yet, there’s no way you’re bored.”

“That’s the thing though, I’m so fucking bored that I can’t think of a single fucking thing. My mind is blank and I am  _ dying.” _

Karkat opens his mouth to say something and Dave cuts him off. “Don’t even think of telling me to read one of your shitty romance novels. I absolutely refuse.”

There’s silence for a few minutes as Karkat sits on the floor and starts to read. Dave stares at the ceiling and listens to the pages of the book turn occasionally. His eye twitches. The page turns. 

“Holy fucking shit I cannot stand this for one more fucking second oh my word,” Dave says, sitting up and running his hands through his hair again.

“And I can’t fucking stand this whole thing either.”

There’s silence for a few more seconds before Dave groans again.

“Okay, get the fuck up we’re going shopping or some shit. I will fucking slap you if you groan again.”

Dave’s face breaks out in a grin and he quickly follows Karkat out the door.

Not too much later, Karkat and Dave are walking down the streets of New York, making snap judgements about people and stores and witty comment after witty comment. At one point, Karkat grabs Dave’s hand and Dave’s brain short circuits for the next ten minutes.

It’s all fine and dandy until Dave feels a hand on his shoulder.

He stops abruptly, and Karkat turns around, confused.

“Excuse me,” says the man who stopped him. Dave shrugs away from the hand.

“Please don’t touch me,” he says, and nods at Karkat to keep walking. The man, undeterred, follows them. Dave grits his teeth and doesn’t say a word.

“What, so that  _ troll  _ can touch you and not me?”

Dave tenses up more. “First of all, that’s fucking racist, and second of all,  _ yes,  _ because I know him and you’re a fucking stranger. Now please, leave us the fuck alone.” Karkat casts him a glance, but Dave just keeps walking.

“Wait, wait, humor me for a second,” the man persists. Dave is itching to punch him at this point. He doesn’t even respond. The man bristles at his side. “What, so are you a fucking fa-”

Karkat stops and whirls around. “Don’t you dare finish that fucking sentence, or I will knock you into next year’s calendar, don’t fucking test me.” Dave raises an eyebrow.

“What, haven’t you heard of freedom of speech?”

Karkat is fuming and Dave is honestly kind of scared. The troll snarls, showing his array of fangs. “That doesn’t mean you get to escape without facing the consequences of your fucking  _ free speech.  _ Now back the fuck off or I will dent your fucking face.”

The man holds up his hands. “Jeez, okay, whatever. Fuck you,” he says, and backs away.

Karkat’s posture relaxes and turns to face Dave. He runs his hands through his coarse black hair and bites his lip slightly. “You good?”

Dave, still a little speechless, nods.

Karkat offers his hand and Dave takes it before they continue down the sidewalk.

 

***

 

Rose is tying on her golden mask when Dave comes downstairs to get water from the kitchen. Kanaya gives him a small wave and clips something on her horn to make them less recognizable. Huh. Smart.

Dave surveys the fridge, not quite understanding Rose’s relationship with her mom. 

After a few moments of silence, Rose sighs. “You know what, fine. You can come with us.”

Dave freezes for a second, and then slowly turns around. “What?”

The dark skinned girl rolls her eyes. “Go change. Unless, of course, you decide to stay home while we do all the fun stuff, as you put it?”

He can’t help it; he breaks out into a grin.

When he bursts through the door and seizes his bag from the bed, Karkat gives him a very confused look. Dave smiles wider and waves his red mask in the air. His boyfriend’s face takes on a different emotion, more concerned. “Don’t do anything stupid and don’t die,” the troll says after a little hesitation.

“Can’t promise you that I won’t do anything stupid, but I’ll make sure not to die.”

Karkat rolls his eyes.

Dave finishes changing quickly (still wishing for a montage of some kind) and joins the girls in the front room.

Kanaya smiles at him and Rose leads the way out of the house and into the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> we're drawing closer to the end oh boy
> 
> i'm very excited for the next few chapters
> 
> btw im thisisnotacreativeusername on tumblr if you wanna yell at me for not updating or something idk


	16. CHAPTER 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Karkat tries to entertain himself while Dave, Kanaya, and Rose go out superhero-ing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \- long time no update whoops  
> \- i got kinda distracted what with my sibling going off to college and starting school and preparing for theatre auditions but im back and ready to post more!! im gonna try to post the next few chapters soon too. there's only 2 or 3 more left until the end wowie  
> \- sorry this chapter is a bit short. i didn't want it to be too filler-y  
> \- fun fact: ive written 75 pages of this crap  
> \- sorry the pacing sucks i really didnt want to add too much filler stuff but it was a bad decision i just wanted to post at least something

Karkat sighs and checks the clock again. Dave went out with Rose and Kanaya again, this time in the afternoon instead of in the evening. He was left with nothing to do except scroll through his social media and reread his shitty romance novels. Eventually, that can get boring. 

So now Karkat is roaming the streets of New York, after shooting a quick text to Dave so he doesn’t flip the fuck out when he gets back, presumably with a bunch of injuries that he’ll take care of in the bathroom with a first-aid kit he found under the sink. There’s nothing Karkat really has in mind. It’s nice to just walk around a bit, like he used to do all the time back home before Dave started staying at his place. He’s used to cities, even if this one might throw him off with the different street layout.

The city is loud, with chatter and car horns and animals and fights and it’s  _ wonderful _ . Staying inside a quiet house with barely any human interaction can get irritating after a while. 

A few times, Karkat spots the trio of superheroes as they make their way towards some crime. Dave always shoots him a wink if he sees him too, and Karkat rolls his eyes as he continues his walk down the road.

“Caramel macchiato?”

Karkat glances up from his phone and claims the shamefully white-girl drink. He mumbles out a thank you before quickly stumbling out the door and surveying the rest of the street. The sun is slowly edging towards the horizon, so he should start heading back soon, and he probably shouldn’t have gotten coffee, but nothing matters so why the fuck not.

After a moment’s hesitation, Karkat starts heading in the general direction of a bus stop where he can catch a ride back towards Rose’s house.

It’s a little while later when he realizes he might’ve taken a wrong turn somewhere, because this definitely doesn’t look like a bus stop. And there aren’t nearly as many people as there were before. And he definitely hasn’t been here before.

Fuck.

Never fear, he has the power of Google Maps on his side!

Except for the fact that he has the worst reception right now and it’s not fucking loading.

Great. This was just how he wanted to spend his evening.

Karkat sighs and slowly starts to retrace his steps. Maybe he’ll find some place he recognizes?

Scuffling in his peripheral vision makes him pause. What could that be..?

Something seizes Karkat from behind and drags him into an alley. He’s given a flashback to those incredibly incompetent kidnappers from before and wonders if he can somehow get out of this similarly. But when his eyes adjust and he sees what he’s dealing with, that hope quickly dies.

These guys have masks, and proper clothing with weapons peeking out from various pockets. They seem practiced, like they’ve been committing crimes for years and have had their fair share of prison cells.

There’s a pinch in Karkat’s neck and everything goes dark.

 

***

 

Groggily, Karkat opens his eyes. His vision is fuzzy and his head feels like it’s been filled with cotton. Vaguely, he can hear a voice and a shape moving in the dark room, but the only light is coming from the crack under a door and it’s not helping his sedated vision at all.

Someone touches his chin and he startles, but he can’t make out anything they’re saying. It’s like he’s underwater.

Karkat blinks, sure he feels something warm and wet dripping down his arm. The feeling spreads, his torso becoming soaked in warm, wet, sticky sensations. What is that? Someone’s screaming. Is it him?

_ “Red?” _

_ “How long…. coming..” _

_ “Freak…. soon..” _

He begins to catch words, but he doesn’t understand them. They slip out of his mind as soon as they enter. Desperately, he tries to get them to stay, but suddenly his brain and teeth rattle and his ears ring. He’s looking in a different direction. When did that happen? Did he get hit? The warm sensation returns, on his leg this time. Karkat thinks he might be screaming, but he can’t tell if he’s made a single sound.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :)


	17. chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dave gets a strange visitor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> do i have any self control? no.  
> i wanted to get this chapter out soon because it's longer and better than the last one. also i already wrote most of this part like a month or two ago
> 
> one more chapter. the end times are near

It’s understandable to panic when you come back after a long night of fighting crime and instead of finding your boyfriend you find yourself.

And not the soul searching kind of find yourself.

There’s a tense silence hanging in the air, both Daves staring at each other.

The other Dave looks worse for the wear. He’s all bandaged up and his costume seems to have been burned. His red eyes are wide, earnest.

“Dave, you have to listen to me. You’re not insane, this is just part of your powers. There's something-”

“Are you from the future?”

“I hav- Yes, I’m from the future. Isn’t it obvious? You’re a time based superhero, with time based powers. Why  _ wouldn’t _ you have time travel?”

Dave considers this. “Fair enough. Wait, bro, I could make some sick beats about this-”

Future Dave cuts him off. “No. Stop. I’m not here for shits and giggles, something important is happening!”

Dave pauses, looking at the second Dave more carefully this time. He’s shaking, and his hands and clothes are stained with bright red blood. Brighter than the stuff oozing into the bandages on his arms and face. It starts to click. “Karkat-” he starts.

“-Is in serious trouble. Someone figured that he’s important to Clockwork, so they took him. So much for having a secret identity to protect your loved ones, am I right?” Future Dave finishes.

Dread fills Dave’s stomach. “Where is-”

“At the abandoned hotel a few blocks north of that one weird Starbucks rip-off store. Can’t miss it. Now get the fuck out of here.” Future Dave interrupts, turning him around and shoving him out the door.

Dave stumbles forwards, still not quite understanding what’s happening, and the door slams shut behind him.

There’s only one thing to do.

Not wasting another second, Dave pulls his goggles back down over his mask and races down the stairs.

“Dave? Where are you going?” Rose asks as he flings open the front door.

“No time to talk fill you in later gotta go bye!”

 

Knock-off Starbucks. He knows where that is. Sort of. Well, he knows where it is when he’s on the top of a building. Dave is not on the top of a building. And he cannot fly.

Time to use those epic Parkour Skills ™ .

Dave surveys the sides of buildings around him before picking one with a fire escape. He hauls himself onto the ladder and runs up the steps, jumping and pulling himself up to the roof once he’s reached the top. There. Now he’ll be able to get there.

Sure enough, the totally not Starbucks shop is a few blocks down. Future Dave didn’t lie. The abandoned hotel is fairly easy to spot from Spacebucks(sorry buddy, changing the word star to space doesn’t make you your own franchise).

Dave slides down the drainage pipe to reach the street and immediately regrets this decision. Drainage pipes have sharp edges. Sharp edges cause cuts. Cuts on hands is not a fun time.

He grits his teeth and sucks in a breath before pressing his palms against the fabric of his suit and walking towards the hotel. The streetlights flicker and Dave tries to keep his heart from pounding out of his chest.

The door rises above him. None of the lights are on inside, and what remains of the furniture casts long, sprawling shadows up the walls and across the cracked tile floor. The only thing that pierces the darkness is the streetlamp behind Dave, which sends an elongated shadowy version of himself on the ground inside. He shudders.

Before he steps through the glass door, Dave stops time with a snap. The hinges creak as he pushes into the main lobby.

It’s bigger than he first thought, with an arching ceiling. A battered desk stands to his right and a seating area that might have once been called luxurious sprawls to his left. In front of him is a large fountain, overrun with cobwebs and plants. Grass and weeds peek out between cracks in the tile.

When no immediate threats seem obvious, Dave lets time resume. Nothing happens, and the only sound seems to be the whistling of the breeze throughout the creaking building.

And then a scream cuts through the air.

It’s coming from somewhere above him. Dave glances around and spots the door to the stairs, which he runs to without second thought.

A cloud of dust is released as he shoulders the door open, and a winding staircase towers above him, growing up far past his line of vision.

There’s another scream. He starts to run.

Dave’s heart pounds, blood roaring in his ears. His footsteps echo through the stairwell as he climbs higher. Breathing hard, he stops, scanning the area for any sign, any trail that would lead him to Karkat.

There: a spot of bright cherry red blood staining the gray cement floor. It appeared to smear under the door, like the person bleeding was dragged into the next room.

Dave grabs the door handle. Surprisingly, it’s unlocked.  _ That’s not a good sign,  _ Dave thinks, but enters the room anyway. 

The room is dark, but the light bleeding in from the doorway is just enough to see. There, in the middle of the junk-filled room. Karkat is tied to a chair, blood trickling down his arm and leg, and soaking through his shirt. He stirs, glancing up as the light hits him.

“Dave?” his voice is weak, shaking and raspy.

Dave doesn’t care if it’s a trap. He runs to Karkat’s side, kneeling beside him. “Karkat, who did this? What did they do to you?”

“Couldn’t see them…”

Dave begins to unravel Karkat’s bonds, trying not to hurt him. The knot is halfway undone when Karkat stiffens. A shadow falls over the two of them. The blonde boy stops, slowly turning his head.

Standing in the doorway is a masked figure. He parts his lips in a snarl. Slowly, he brings his gloved hands together in a sarcastic applause.

“Congratulations, Clockwork, you’ve found us. How unfortunate. For you, that is.”

The man crosses the room, and Dave notices the amount of junk scattered about the floor. Papers, woodchips, an old mattress. Some type of liquid has been spilled on ground. “You see, while others might want to unmask you, I just think you’re a pain. Of course, there are more like you, but you’re one of the more annoying ones.”

Dave knits his eyebrows together, trying to process what the man is saying. He fiddles with the rope knot discreetly, keeping an eye on the masked person.

The man looks at his wrist. “Oh, look at the time. Sorry to dash out on you, but I have somewhere else I need to be. I’d say see you later, but you won’t be seeing much of anything in a few minutes.” He walks over to the door, but before he leaves, he pulls something small from his pocket. There’s a little movement, a little sound, and then he throws something small over Karkat’s head. It lands in a pile of wet newspaper. Dave’s eyes widen.

The door slams and clicks. 

The newspapers spark and and catch on fire, quickly burning up and spreading outwards. Dave lets out a heroic squeak and tries to untie the rope faster. The fire crackles, giving a loud pop as it hits some glass bottles. Sweat drips down Dave’s face as he scrambles to free Karkat, who is still looking dazed. The heat is quickly building, and it’s getting harder to breathe. Flames lick the wall, spreading to the ceiling.

The ropes fall away. Karkat slumps sideways into Dave. Quickly, Dave scoops up the troll and rushes to the door. The fire roars behind them and Dave coughs painfully, smoke spreading over the ceiling. With a snap, time freezes around them.

Eyes stinging, Dave examines the door. It’s locked, but it isn’t heavily enforced. He can probably bust it open, but there’s no telling how long that might take.

Those random YouTube tutorials might finally come in handy.

Gently, he sets Karkat on the ground. Working from memory, Dave pulls out the materials he needs. Who knows why he carries a pack of bobby pins around with him. He’s just lucky he does.

Dave bends one pin and inserts it in the lock. Carefully, biting his lip, he slides a second bent pin into the lock and jiggles it around until he finds the first lock pin. He licks his salty lips and pushes the bobby pin up slightly until he hears a click. 

Dave’s head starts to hurt slightly, the pounding against his temple growing in intensity as he concentrates harder on keeping time frozen and picking the door lock. A bead of sweat rolls down his cheek, but Dave ignores it, knitting his brow in frustration. A second click sounds.

His temple begins to throb and his ears start to ring. He’s been holding time still for too long, but if he lets it go now, both of them will die. A third click.

The final lock pin makes a click as he pushes it up and Dave drops the bobby pins on the floor, pulling the door open. He lets out a sigh of relief and turns to pick up Karkat again, but the sudden movement makes him dizzy. The edges of his vision go fuzzy.

Blinking hard, he scoops up Karkat again and starts out the door and down the stairs, hoping to get out of the building before letting time flow freely again. This proves to be easier said than done. Dave’s legs shake from the strain and dizziness, but he ignores it as he stumbles down the stairs. A few times he almost falls, but he forces himself to stay standing and wait for his fuzzy vision to clear.

Something drips from his nose and splatters on the floor.

Blood.

Gritting his teeth, Dave staggers down the stairs and into the lobby. The front entrance is blocked, so he stumbles over to a floor-to-ceiling window. He rams his shoulder into it, nearly tripping over himself as it shatters. 

He takes a few steps forward into the parking lot, trying to make it towards the softer grass patch in the middle, but the world lurches and Dave collapses. Blood pours freely from his nose, like someone had turned on a faucet. His ears ring and his temple throbs as his vision blurs. The cool breeze on his sweaty cheek is the final indicator that time has resumed before he passes out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :-)


End file.
